Finding our Pace
by Europe28
Summary: Endeavour stood a little way off from the abandoned car while Inspector Thursday and Detective Sergeant Jakes looked over the body with the forensics team. He kept his eyes fixed on the sky above, reciting 'The Magic Flute' in his head to keep his mind of the splayed limbs that had been found dotted around the field that they now stood in. Jakes/Endeavour
1. I'll see you at the Station

Endeavour stood a little way off from the abandoned car while Inspector Thursday and Detective Sergeant Jakes looked over the body with the forensics team.

He kept his eyes fixed on the sky above, reciting 'The Magic Flute' in his head to keep his mind of the splayed limbs that had been found dotted around the field that they now stood in.  
From what he'd gathered from bits of conversations as the pathologists passed him, was that the body belonged to that of a young man – his arms and right leg had been hacked off and scattered around the field just outside of Oxford, near a small village where his car and the rest of his body had been found.

"Sick Bastard!"

Endeavour turned to see Dr Max DeBryn stalking away from the crime scene pulling off his soiled plastic gloves, shaking his head so vigorously that it looked to Endeavour as if his glasses were in danger of falling off.

"Good call staying back here" Max told him, tossing the gloves into a disposable bag that was already weighed down to the dusty dirt ground by the other disposed gloves used by the other members of Max's team.  
The head pathologist came to stand beside him, breathing in deeply, "you would have fainted for sure."

Endeavour fought back a small surge of annoyance – he was teased by almost everyone on the police force for his hemophobia, especially by Max and DS Jakes who seemed to find it a constant source of amusement.

He was about to ask what Max could tell him when Jakes suddenly pulled away from the car, white as a sheet. Endeavour would be lying if he said that he didn't get some pleasure from watching Jakes throwing up his breakfast onto a patch of grass – perhaps this would stop him bothering him for a bit.

Jakes must have felt Endeavour watching him, because he turned his head to give him one of the most obvious 'fuck-off' looks that Endeavour had ever been faced with, before turning round to throw up again.

Thursday was last away from the car and he didn't look particularly comfortable either, even if he had managed to hold onto the contents of his stomach.  
The DI walked a little distance from the car before rolling his eyes and motioning Endeavour and Jakes over, giving them that same patient look that he gave to everyone.

Smiling a quick farewell to Max, Endeavour went over to join his Inspector and recovering Sergeant, who was at least standing straight now, even if his legs were still shaking and his face was deathly pale.

"Three limbs hacked off" Thursday observed, nodding his head in the directions where the limbs had been marked, "body left in the car but impossible to identify."  
Endeavour perked up his head, "why's that?" He asked, realising the moment the words left his mouth that he didn't want to hear the answer.

Thursday breathed in deeply, casting one final look back at the car, "because his face has been skinned off and teeth pulled out. DeBryn says that the severed limbs are post-mortem, his face was skinned and his teeth pulled out while he was still alive – he would have died from the blood-loss."

Even the thought of the disfigured body was enough to make Endeavour's stomach churn uncomfortably.  
He blinked, noticing suddenly that Thursday was giving him an expectant look, waiting for Endeavour's usual clever ideas to come spinning out.

"Well..." Endeavour began, "We know that the murderer doesn't want us to know the victims identity, so its unlikely that car will be traceable back to either the victim or their murderer, but perhaps we can find out if the car was reported in stolen" he suggested, but Thursday was already waving his head to show that he'd already thought of that.

Groaning inwardly, Endeavour realised that his thoughts were so full of the images of the body that he hadn't seen, that he couldn't manage to think straight. Despite not having seen the body his imagination seemed perfectly capable of brining to mind the most grotesque corpse possible while still somewhat in tact.  
It would appear that he could only reply in Police Procedure Talk at the moment.

He closed his eyes, trying to wipe the image away and focus on anything unusual that might help them either identify the murderer or the body.

Releasing the long breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, Endeavour opened his eyes again.  
"We're obviously dealing with someone very used to violence, with something like a ritual they seemed to have followed in carving up the... body," his face was turning green as the image tried to force its way back, "...but the limbs they've been thrown out in what we can only interpret as random directions, pretty close to the car. Why not just leave them with the body or take them somewhere else, why just throw them out," he demonstrated the throwing motions with his arms, then realised as his legs began to shake that it might not have been a good idea.

"He's mad obviously," Jakes seemed to have decided that Endeavour had received quite enough attention from their DI and thought this was the perfect time to butt in. "If he's mad we can't expect your usual logic and reason to apply" Jakes sneered in his normal way, and Endeavour had to fight every urge in his body that was urging him to pull a face right back.

Thursday however sensed that an argument was just over the horizon and sent Jakes off to see if any of the people in the nearby houses had heard anything, while Endeavour was given the task of tracking down the owner of the car that the body had been found in.

Returning to the station, Endeavour found tracking down the car easier than he'd first thought – a man was standing at the front desk when he arrived reporting a stolen red ford that matched the description and numberplate of the car the body had been found in.

Taking the man off the desk constable's hands, Endeavour led the man to the Police Station mess where they could talk in a comfortable area without being overheard by anyone.

The man's name was Alex Morgan, and he'd woken up this morning to find that his car was gone. He apparently lived on one of those streets without a drive-through so had it parked in the street a little way off from the house. If he had heard a car starting up in the busy street he couldn't swear it was his, though he could say that he'd last seen it when arriving home from work at about five-thirty yesterday evening.

Of course the man then wanted to know if the police had picked it up, leaving Endeavour at a junction – on one hand, yes they did have the car; but on the other, it was now part of a murder investigation that Thursday hadn't given him leave to talk about with the general public.

"We'll look into it" he replied diplomatically, giving Alex Morgan a quick smile and getting back to his feet, wondering if Thursday and Jakes were back in the office again. It was a little disappointing that he hadn't made any breakthroughs himself, but it would be interesting to hear if any of the people from the little village near where the car was found had heard anything.

Unfortunately though, he was the first one back in the office, so instead he began typing up the report for the stolen car that Mr Morgan had reported and its connection to the case.  
By the time he'd finished Jakes was storming back into the office, followed by Thursday who didn't look particularly happy either.

Apparently everybody from the village was convinced it was this old monster from a folk story that was said to haunt the area – even though its M.O. didn't fit the murder in any way what so ever.  
This information about the M.O. Came from Endeavour who could remember reading something about the monster, or demon (depending on the version), that attacked its prey then ate them – Whoever they had in that car had been brutally savaged but there was no sign to say he'd been eaten at all.

This explanation of course earned an irritated glance from Jakes.

With the interview reports finished, Endeavour told them about the man who came in earlier to report his missing car and how it exactly matched the one they'd found, of course he then had to explain that there was no way that anyone would have noticed when the car was stolen so they didn't have any leads there either.

Thursday sighed, sitting down behind his desk, "We'll have to wait for the pathologist report, until then, Jakes and Morse I want you to reinterview the witnesses tomorrow, see if Morse can read anything we couldn't."

Endeavour couldn't blame Jakes for looking a little affronted by this, but Thursday didn't appear to notice and dismissed them so he could go and talk to the Super Intendant about how the case was going.

"No sixth sense giving you any new clues then?" Jakes smirked as they left the office, "by this point you've usually had some sort of brain wave."

Endeavour opened his mouth irritably to say something, fixing Jakes with an annoyed look, before thinking better of it and storming past him instead to sit down at his own desk – grateful that Jakes' was at the other side of the room.

Jakes was better than DS Lott, who had been Thursday's Sergeant when Endeavour had first come to Oxford, but that only went as far as to say that Jakes wasn't a corrupt back-hander, personality-wise they were very similar.

Endeavour spent the next few hours rethinking the case, trying to remember some minor detail that could give him a clue.  
But Constable Strange was rapping on his desk, a sign that meant he was buying down at the pub, an offer than Endeavour never turned down.

As usual Endeavour sat with Strange, who seemed to be trying more than ever to get Endeavour to focus on his Sergeant's exam, but Endeavour's mind, as always was far more preoccupied with the case.

Well the case, and that he'd just noticed Jakes imitating what looked like him fainting again. Apparently Jakes throwing up at the crime scene wasn't enough to keep him quiet and away from his favourite impersonation for long.

"Excuse me," Endeavour cut-off Strange in mid-sentence, rising to his feet with his pint in hand to where Jakes and his mates were.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked innocently, flashing only a quick smirk at Jakes who was glaring at him hard. "Only, being sick at that crime scene like that, might be a good idea to go back and get some rest."

This was met with a burst of laughter from Jakes' friends, causing his co-worker to turn bright red.

"It was really awful okay!" Jakes protested in defence, "blood and stuff everywhere, anybody would have thrown up!"

Endeavour shrugged, "I suppose the pathologist team, constables that were there and Inspector Thursday must just have particularly strong constitutions then."

Jakes' friends were now laughing even harder, driven on by the alcohol and the furious embarrassed look on Jakes' face.  
Endeavour knew that Jakes would probably find some sort of way of getting back at him for this, but for now he'd just enjoy the moment.

"I'll see you at the station tomorrow" Jakes snapped, shoving past Endeavour, "don't be late!"

Thursday had suggested back at the station that it made more sense for them to drive up to the village in one car to make sure one of them didn't get lost or caught up in traffic on the way.  
Endeavour knew in his own way that Thursday was trying to encourage him and Jakes to work better together, but to all but Thursday it seemed impossible – some people just simply didn't get on.

Success burning through his blood, Endeavour went back to Strange, grinning with triumph.

Strange however did not look impressed, "you know he'll get you back for that" he told Endeavour with a frown, "should you really be provoking your seniors?"

"Oh come on, he's always provoking me" Endeavour protested, waving his arm towards Jakes' silly drunken friends,

His friend said nothing more, but Endeavour could tell that he still didn't think it was a good idea.


	2. Did he check you out?

The next morning when he met Jakes at the station, his senior didn't seem to keen on talking to him, in fact the only response Endeavour had gotten out of him were grunts.

On the way out of the door he bumped into Alex Morgan again who was coming back in to see if any more progress had been made in finding his car.

"You're the one from the other day," Morgan grabbed at his arm, "has there been any luck in finding my car, only I do really need it, I can't keep taking the bus,"

Endeavour manoeuvred his way out of Morgan's grip, smiling encouragingly, "the moment we have anything to tell you I'll make sure you're contacted,"

"Morse!" Jakes barked from his car, leaning out of the window impatiently.

Endeavour shrugged apologetically to Morgan, and threw his arms up in the air at Jakes.

"Who was that?" Jakes asked, starting up the engine the moment Endeavour was sitting in the passenger seat.  
"The man who owns the car that we found the body in" he explained, pulling on his seatbelt quickly before Jakes had a chance to slam his foot down on the accelerator – by now too annoyed to notice that Jakes had started talking to him again.

"You didn't tell him anything did you!" Jakes took his eyes of the road to fix Endeavour with a sharp look.

"Of course not!"

The rest of the journey was spent in almost silence. The only words spoken between them were when Endeavour yelled at him to slow down and Jakes yelled back that he knew how to drive thank you very much!

Thankfully there wasn't any traffic and they were pulling into the village just before ten, finding the little car park around the clock tower.

"So do we do this door-to-door or did you have anyone in mind?" Endeavour asked, unbuckling the seatbelt and pulling himself out of the car.  
Jakes didn't give him an answer, so Endeavour had no choice but to follow him up to the first house.

An elderly woman with large beady eyes frowned at the two of them, she clearly recognised Jakes because she called over her shoulder "hun, the Police are here again!" She had a loud wailing screechy voice that made Endeavour wince inside.

She led them inside the house and led them to her sitting room where a little jumpy man was already sitting, eyeing his wife with the same caution as Endeavour was.

Jakes pulled his notebook from his pocket and flicked through the pages till he found the right interview.  
"Now Mrs Darrow, you told me and my Inspector yesterday that you heard a car driving past your house two nights ago, can you describe what that car looked like?"

Mrs Darrow turned her nose up at him, "I've told you already, I only heard the noisy thing, I didn't see anything," her gaze turned to Endeavour, her entire posture relaxing immediately as she gave him a flirtatious smile, Endeavour smiled back mildly, which she seemed to take as an encouraging sign.

Next to him Jakes sighed and leaned back on the sofa next to him, looking straight ahead, refusing to spare him a glance.

"Are you sure there's nothing more Mrs Darrow?" Endeavour asked softly, leaning forward and giving her a bright and encouraging look.

"Daisy please" she giggled, and Endeavour could almost feel Jakes rolling his eyes. "But I am really sorry, it was dark you see so I only got the colour..."

Jakes suddenly sat up again, "what colour was it?"

Endeavour felt himself being pushed aside as Jakes once again took up questioning the woman.

Mrs Darrow closed up again immediately, giving Jakes a stern look and refusing to speak again until he had pulled back and given her full sight of Endeavour again.  
"It was a red car, the ones that make loud noises usually are, it passed by here just before midnight I think, woke me up."

Endeavour thanked her, getting to his feet, "thank you Mrs Darrow, you've been a great help."

She flushed, rising to her own feet to show him and Jakes to the door.

The moment it had been closed behind her Jakes spoke up in a high imitating voice, "thank you Mrs Darrow, you've been a great help."

"Well I got a placement on the car didn't I" Endeavour snapped back, following Jakes to the next house.

"No, you got a placement on a red car that might be the one we're looking for" Jakes corrected him, "we need more than that."

As they moved from house-to-house they heard a lot more about this local folk story, which from Endeavour's memory had its origins from a cannibal that had lived in the area during the early 18th century.

"He was not eaten" was Jakes' strained reply whenever they were retold this story, "now did you hear or see anything suspicious?"

And after being told about how the wind was a little colder that night and how several women had felt shivers up their spines, Endeavour and Jakes decided to give up for now and stop at the village pub for lunch.

"You know you could try being a little less aggressive" Endeavour advised as he started carving up the ham and chips that the barmaid had laid out in front of him, "you may get more results that way, instead of your witnesses closing up like that."

"We can't all be the charmer you are" Jakes muttered, starting on his own lunch, with a scowl at the barmaid who gave Endeavour a quick look up and down followed by a small giggle.

"I'm not doing it deliberately" Endeavour told him honestly, but he knew it was pointless because Jakes only gave him some sarcastic reply and stopped talking to him again.  
He was honestly starting behave like five year old, however he'd made it to the position of Sergeant Endeavour had no idea.

The afternoon proved just as trivial as the morning, until Jakes finally snapped and stormed back to the car to let Endeavour do the final house by himself.

The door was answered by a young man about his own age with wavy brown hair and a warm inviting look.  
Endeavour showed him his I.D. And was let in without any fuss.

He couldn't help but notice that there was something slightly effeminate about the way the man moved through the house to show him the sitting room, and he was the first man to offer him a cup of tea out of the other ten houses he'd been to visit.

"No thanks, I'm full up on tea" Endeavour told him, holding up his hand in a way that said 'thank you but no'.

The man sat down opposite him on the main chair in the room, "I'm sorry you'll have to make do with me, mother's out" he told Endeavour with a look that was somewhat almost as flirtatious as Mrs Darrow's.

Feeling a little awkward and hot under the collar, Endeavour started running through the routine questions, at least this man didn't seem to believe in the cannibal demon story.

The man introduced himself as Rupert Jones for Endeavour's notes, then proceeded to tell him that he'd taken a sleeping pill and gone straight to sleep like a baby two nights ago so hadn't heard anything, and that his mother had been out in Oxford for the night so there was no way she'd heard anything.

Endeavour thanked him for his time and tried not to notice where Jones' eyes were going when he stood up and turned to leave.

Feeling rather flustered, he returned to the car park where Jakes was waiting against his car, cigarette between his lips as usual.  
"Anything?" He asked, giving Endeavour's red face a quick look, "what happened to you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it" Endeavour sniffed, pulling himself into the car, "he'd taken a sleeping pill so slept through the whole night."  
Jakes' inquisitive look broke into a grin, "oh that's right it was that poof at the last house I forgot about that," one look at Jakes told Endeavour most certainly that Jakes' had not forgotten and that the move had been a deliberate one.  
"So did you flirt with him like the women?" Jakes smirked, putting out his cigarette and pulling himself into the car after Endeavour.

"I told you I wasn't flirting" Endeavour grumbled, "And nothing happened!"

"Did he check you out?" Jakes grinned, lifting his eyebrows with amusement that told of all the stories Jakes was going to tell in the pub about this – his revenge for last night.

Endeavour didn't reply, folding his arms and turning to look out the window.

Jakes tutted and laughed to himself, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the car park.


	3. You're looking for a place to live?

That evening at the pub Endeavour knew without even having to look round what Jakes' story was tonight.  
He kept his head turned, refusing to engage with Jakes or his friends, for once actually trying to concentrate on the questions Strange was asking him from the exam practise book.

"Don't let Jakes get to you," Strange put the book down with a sigh, giving Endeavour a sympathetic look, "you know he's only jealous because you get all of DI Thursday's attention now, and your obviously much smarter than him,"

"Well it's not my fault" Endeavour huffed quietly, turning his head for a quick glance at Jakes, immediately regretting it when he realised that Jakes had been looking at him and waiting for him to make this slip-up.

Jakes waved cheerily at him, drawing the whole pub's attention in his direction, "so how far did it get?" He called, "remind me."

Endeavour frowned and got to his feet, pulling his coat of the back of his chair and making towards the exit before he did anything to embarrass himself further.  
"Poof!" Were the last words he heard shouted at him behind his back before the pub door slammed mercifully shut behind him, allowing the world to fill with cool silence again.

He caught the bus back to the house were he boarded, intending to get a good night's sleep to be up in time for the pathology report tomorrow.

On his way up the stairs to his room, he bumped into his landlady, she gave him a sour disproving look as he past her, "we need to talk tomorrow morning" she told him, giving him a sharp glare before continuing on her way down to her own room.

Endeavour was confused, what on earth could that be about?

As it turned out, his Landlady's son was coming down from London to visit for a few weeks which meant that he wanted his old room back and Endeavour would have to stay with a friend for a while.

Of course, she assured him that he'd have a few days to find somewhere before she threw him out onto the street.

The only person that Endeavour knew well enough to ask if he could stay with them was Strange, but he knew the other man had a relatively small house and a large family so that was out of the question. He supposed he'd have to riffle through the papers and find out if anyone else was hiring out a room for board.

"Not your usual taste" Jakes commented, noting the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail that were folded on Endeavour's desk.  
Deciding it would just be easier to buy all the papers to find somewhere to live, Endeavour now realised he'd made a mistake in bringing them to work with him. He didn't want anyone to know he was being thrown out of his board, especially Jakes, who already had far too much ammunition against him.

"I was just looking for any information the papers might have failed to alert us to before publishing" he lied, motioning to the headlines that were both about their red car murder victim.

Jakes didn't look like he believed him but Thursday was already in the office and motioning for them to follow him down to the pathologist's lab for the final report.

As they rounded into Max's office, Endeavour laid eyes on the body for the first time and understood immediately why Jakes had been sick.

Max showed them the knife wounds around the side of the man's face that had been used to peel off the skin and the violently disfigured gums that had (by Max's guess) been deprived of their teeth by some sort of large set of pliers.

The Pathologist then went on to talk about how there were obvious signs that the man had been tied down while his assailant worked, but Endeavour had stopped listening and could already recognise the dizziness that was spreading from his head to his legs as the world clouded over.

Falling sideways, eyes rolling into the back of his head, his last conscious memory was of crashing into someone before being grabbed by strong steady arms that held him so steady Endeavour wasn't sure if they were going to let him go.

He awoke almost half an hour later, lying across on of the benches in the hall outside the pathologist room, Jakes sitting opposite him, watching him with a bored look.  
"Oh good Thumbelina is coming to" the dark haired man sighed, throwing up his arm in mock praise and exasperation, "Thursday told me to wait here until you regained consciousness." He smirked, "suddenly throwing up doesn't seem quite so bad after all."

Endeavour sat up slowly, fixing Jakes with a tired look, "please I'm not in the mood today." With his head still spinning and the worry about his accommodation, Jakes was the last person that Endeavour wanted to deal with at the moment.

Something that could have resembled worry flashed briefly over Jakes' features, but he didn't say anything and it was gone before Endeavour could be sure of what he'd seen.

"Come on," Jakes got to his feet, waiting for Endeavour to do the same, tapping his foot impatiently.

Ignoring his light-headedness, Endeavour stood up, standing still for a moment as his body found its balance.  
He was surprised when Jakes rolled his eyes and made to help him, instinctively he pulled away, giving Jakes an uncertain look. The other man shrugged and just walked on ahead, leading the way back to the stairs that led up to the main police station.

Thursday was explaining the pathologist's report to the Super Intendant when they got back, letting him know everything that they'd gathered from the interviews and from the injuries on the body.  
"...for starters we know that he wasn't killed in the car" Thursday was continuing, "DeBryn says there isn't enough blood splatter in the car to suggest that, although there is a chance that he was still alive when he was put into the car, as there was enough blood to suggest that the limbs were hacked off there, he's also got a bruise on his right shoulder, possibly where he was held down."

Endeavour listened carefully, noting the bits he'd missed after fainting.

He was so busy paying attention to Thursday's report that he didn't notice Jakes thumbing through the papers on his desk and studying the addresses that he'd put rings round with his pen, or crossed out when he realised they were out of his price range – which was almost all of them.

"You looking for somewhere to live?" Jakes asked, pulling Endeavour's attention from Thursday.

Endeavour looked from the papers to Jakes' inquisitive eyes and nodded, "only temporary, my landlady's son is coming home for a few weeks and..." He trailed off, shutting his mouth while he tried to work out why exactly he was telling Jakes about this.

He looked up again when he heard Jakes' sniff, just to check that he wasn't being laughed at. Instead he found Jakes focusing very hard on the typewriter in front of him and clicking his tongue indecisively.

"You know the rent was just put up on my place and I've been looking for a flat share, you could crash at mine if you really need somewhere."

Of course in an ideal world, Endeavour would have given Jakes a polite decline, but the reality was that he was desperate, and none of the places within his price range looked particularly nice.  
So he shrugged, "I suppose I could come and check it out" he agreed, also focusing on the typewriter, feeling awkward. Why would Jakes of all people, ask him to share a flat?

Perhaps it was some sort of joke again, but Endeavour at least had to try it, and he supposed that there were benefits to living with another cop – it meant that you disturbed less people when coming in and leaving at all hours of the morning.

"Right, I'll show you the place after work if you're in a hurry to find somewhere" Jakes offered.

Endeavour wasn't going to turn this one down; Jakes occupied after work meant he wouldn't be in the pub and making up stories to embarrass him.

"Right," Thursday strolled back out, looking determined. "The time of death and the time that Mr Morgan last saw his car is just about enough time to get out to that field. I want all possible routes planned and every house that car might have passed interviewed!"

He was looking tired Endeavour noted, he really hoped that their unbelievably pompous Super Intendant wasn't blaming Thursday for the slow progress. This 'madman' as Jakes had put it, really was making it very difficult for them.

Of course when Thursday threw this job out, it meant that Endeavour would be doing it.

It was times like this that Endeavour knew that he really should be concentrating more on his Sergeant's exam. DC jobs were really mind numbing and a complete waist of his time – anybody could do this stuff.

Still he got to his feet without complaint to go and find a map of the Oxfordshire area so he could begin noting a potential journey path.

It took him just over two hours to realise that there were fourteen potential routes (accounting for one-way streets, speed signs and closed roads). Those fourteen routes covered one-hundred-and-fourty-three streets between them.

Well at least hopefully this would give them some more information about who they were after. There was more chance that somebody would have gotten a better look at the murderer or his victim earlier on in the evening before he got to the village.

He pinned the map up on the board, with all the routes drawn on and handed Thursday a list of all the streets.  
"Well done Morse" Thursday beamed, patting him on the back, "I know this is a bit below you, but it's very useful, you go have a good pint," he patted a couple of shillings into Endeavour's hand, "I'm going to go and see some of these streets and see if their inhabitants have anything to tell us, Jakes come on."

Endeavour glanced up at the clock – it was almost five, he turned back to Jakes who met his glance with one of his own.

"What time do you think we'll be back sir?" Jakes asked, dropping her gaze quickly from Endeavour's.

Thursday raised his eyebrow, "got something to do have you?"

Endeavour flashed a pleading look at Jakes, trying to signal that he didn't want Thursday to worry about him. Thankfully Jakes seemed to get the message because he stuffed his hands into his pockets and muttered "no sir."

"Good," Thursday gave Jakes a slightly confused look as he pulled on his coat and headed for the door.

Jakes hung back just long enough for Endeavour to slip closer so they could talk without being overheard.  
"I'll meet you in the pub, hopefully this won't take too long" Jakes whispered,

"Jakes?" Thursday stuck his head back round the door, causing both Jakes and Endeavour to jump away from each other and quickly as possible. Endeavour wasn't sure whether Thursday had noticed or not.

"Coming sir," Jakes pulled his own coat of the back of his chair and hurried after the Inspector without another look back over his shoulder.


	4. Something out of habit

Endeavour went to the pub at the usual time with Strange and this time actually managed to concentrate on what he was being asked. Strange was very impressed and bought him another pint when he'd finished his first.

"Seems like Jakes being out of the pub really does help you focus" Strange smiled as Endeavour began the pint that had just been bought for him.

Endeavour blinked, "Yeah I suppose" he shrugged, settling on his seat – it really was nice not having to listen to various stories and loud noises coming from the other side of the pub.  
Of course Jakes' friends were still here but they seemed a little more bearable without Jakes directing their attention.

The clock ticked round to nine.

"Do you want a lift back?" Strange offered, getting to his feet and stretching, "your place is on my route so I don't mind."

Endeavour shook his head, "no, but thank you, I'm going to stay here a bit longer." He gave Strange a soft smile and a short wave goodbye as his friend turned to go.

Ten O'clock and still no sign of Jakes.

If it wasn't for the fact that Endeavour knew that Jakes had been called away by Thursday for a sweep of quite possibly over a hundred streets, by this point he would have been considering that this was another one of Jakes' jokes.

"What you doing on your own, haven't you got a date?" One of Jakes' friends trying to be funny – he was much easier to ignore than Jakes.

Eleven.

Jakes' friends had gotten bored and left, at least there was peace and quiet in the pub now, although it was almost empty of everyone apart from himself.

To distract himself, Endeavour started running over the case and the map of the red Ford's route, looking for something of significance.  
Then he blinked, opened his eyes and gaped to himself, "I've been so stupid," he slapped his forehead, letting out a small release of laughter. He may not have the answer, but Endeavour was now pretty sure that he had the first piece.

The little bell above the pub door sounded, but Endeavour was almost to caught up in his amazement that he almost didn't notice Jakes finally enter.

"Wow, you really do want a new place."

Endeavour turned and blinked, re-registering why he was here in the first place so close to closing time.

When a short time passed where neither of them said anything, Jakes cleared his throat, "are you drunk?"

"What?" Endeavour shook his head, "No, I just... I think I've noticed something odd about the body and the car."

Jakes' eyes widened, "You what?"

They began walking back to Jakes' car, while Endeavour tried to work out exactly how to phrase his thoughts in words.

As they sat down in the car he had it.

"Look!" He suddenly announced, causing Jakes to freeze with confusion as he began to put his seatbelt on. "The victim was in the driver's seat weren't they?" Endeavour checked, just making sure before he got too carried away.

Jakes nodded, listening carefully.

"Well, who's to say he didn't steal the car and met his murderer en route?" Endeavour's eyes lit up, "a hitch-hiker maybe, or someone he was picking up."

Jakes considered what Endeavour had said, then frowned, "what if he was forced into the driver's seat by his attacker after they stopped?"

Endeavour reached out to where the seatbelt was fixed over Jakes' shoulder, close to his neck and tapped it.  
"That red Ford is one of those new makes with the really tight seatbelts, nobody could drive one without getting a bruise here," he tapped the seatbelt over Jakes' shoulder again, "the seatbelt was undone on the victim and yet he had a bruise on his right shoulder,"

"Yeah, where the murderer held him down" Jakes insisted, his eyes watching the hand that had just touched him like it was some sort of wild animal.

Endeavour shook his head, "those cuts looked like they'd been done from the left had side, that means our attacker is left handed and also makes it impossible for him to have held our victim from that angle with his left hand while cutting him!"

Jakes blinked, it still didn't make much sense to him, but he knew from past experience that Endeavour wasn't usually wrong about these things.

Turning his keys into the ignition, Jakes pulled out onto the road, "Well be sure to tell Thursday tomorrow, I know how much he likes to listen to your thoughts on a subject," there was a bitterness about the way Jakes said it, that caused a knot in Endeavour's chest.

He didn't know exactly how to apologise for the fact that Jakes was constantly being over looked by Thursday in favour of him. He didn't mean to take all of Thursday's attention, but he knew that argument never went down well with Jakes.

So instead he just stayed quiet on the subject.

"So how big is this flat of yours?" He asked, taking mental note of where they were going and trying to work out exactly where Jakes lived.  
He knew where Strange lived and he knew where Thursday lived, but it had never even crossed his mind before as to where Jakes might live.

"Okay size I suppose" Jakes shrugged, "two bedrooms and a sort of kitchen-sitting room combination, I'm not there a lot so it's pretty tidy; you'll like that at least."

Jakes lived near the edge of the town and had a flat on the middle floor of a three story building.

"Well here it is" Jakes presented, unlocking the door and leading the way into the flat.

Jakes' had been right, it was very clean here – in fact the main room hardly looked lived in.

The front room was made up of a small sitting room area with a sofa and coffee table and in the other corner was a rounded counter with just enough space to get through the counters into the centre of the kitchen area where the fridge, sink and oven were.

A hall leading away from this room had three doors, one to the toilet and shower room, another to the spare bedroom, and Endeavour inferred that the other one was Jakes' room.

"So what do you think?" Jakes asked, standing back to let Endeavour have a look around the plain spare room with nothing much in it other than a cupboard and double bed.

Endeavour nodded, "it seems nice... And how much are you asking?" He felt a little awkward asking for a price, but he did need to pull himself together.  
"Don't worry you'll be able to cover it," he raised his eyebrow in an almost light and friendly manner, "remember I used to be a DC too, I know what your salary is."

They both glanced up at the clock on the wall at the same time – it was now almost half eleven.

"You know you can stay here for the night if you want" Jakes offered, "I can make up the spare bed for you. I don't know if any buses are running at this time of night and it just seems like it might save time. You can borrow one of my shirts tomorrow if you like."

It did make sense, Endeavour admitted to himself, and it seemed far less intrusive than asking Jakes for a lift back to his board. He nodded, "yeah, if it's not inconvenient in any way..."

Jakes sighed and rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't have offered if it was."

He slipped into the spare room and opened the shelf, reaching up for the top shelf where Endeavour supposed that the spare bedding was.  
As Jakes searched, Endeavour was surprised to find his eyes drifting over Jakes' frame, noticing how his slim body was toned against his shirt as he stretched up, standing on the tips of his toes just a little bit.

He turned away quickly as Jakes pulled the bedding down with a grunt of triumph. Jakes would never stop teasing him if he knew that Endeavour had been staring at him like... that.  
Suddenly the few centimetres difference in height between them seemed like several feet. The space between the bed and cupboard was very close, so it emphasised everything by the forced proximity.

Endeavour stepped back, manoeuvring his way around the bed to the other side of the room so he could help get the covers on.  
It only took them a couple of minuets to make up the bed.

"If you need anything I'm just down the hall" Jakes mumbled before shooting from the room before Endeavour had a chance to wish him a-goodnight.

Stripping down to his briefs and folding his clothes neatly, Endeavour climbed into bed.

After several months above the stiff bed at his board, the bed he was in now seemed like the softest he'd ever slept in, and he very nearly almost overslept.

He was woken by a light wrap on the door, "you up yet?" Jakes' voice called through the door, "if you want a shower before we go I'll put out a spare shirt by the sink,"

"Yeah, that'll be great thanks" Endeavour called through the door, feeling suddenly conscious about crossing the hall in only his briefs.  
He waited until he was sure Jakes had moved through to the living area before hurrying through the door into the shower room, with his trousers and jacket under his arm. He left the shirt he'd worn yesterday on the bed.

Sighing, stripped off completely and stepped under the warm water, letting the soothing rhythm drum out over his skin.  
He couldn't deny the way he'd noticed Jakes last night, and his mind couldn't help but drift back to those arms that had caught him when he'd fainted in the pathology lab. He'd fallen against a slim body, not the build that matched Thursday or DeBryn. He remembered the way those arms had held him, and how he'd woken with Jakes sitting opposite him.

Could it be that he'd misjudged Jakes?

Shaking his head, Endeavour snapped himself back to his senses, "Jakes hated his guts, why else would he make life so difficult for him?

Then again, he'd offered Endeavour a place to stay.

He wished that Jakes was one of those men that could be more easily read, because Endeavour, for all his efforts just didn't understand him.

Finishing his shower, he left the bathroom fully dressed with the shirt that Jakes had left out for him. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't more conscious of wearing Jakes' shirt than he had been the last time the other man had leant it to him.

The smell of burnt toast made him recoil slightly from the kitchen.

"Do you want any?" Jakes called from the kitchen, already buttering two slices of toast that were closer to black than brown.  
"It's okay I'll do it" Endeavour offered, shifting into the kitchen and giving Jakes a pardoning smile.

The other man shrugged, moving aside to let Endeavour at the toaster to butter his toast at one of the other counters.

"So, do you mind if I bring my stuff round after work?" He asked casually, watching the toast carefully just in case it was the toaster rather than Jakes' cooking ability that burnt the toast – however it didn't look like he had anything to worry about, the bread was toasting at the speed he'd of expected.

"Do you want me to come round with the car?" Jakes checked, taking a bite of the black buttered toast without so much as a cringe.  
"If it's not out of your way" Endeavour agreed,

"Still using lines like that" Jakes smirked, putting the toast down and pulling a cigarette from his pocket. No wonder the taste didn't bother him, he probably couldn't taste anything through all that smoke constantly being inhaled into his lungs.

"You know there are some studies that say smoking seriously compromises your health" Endeavour chatted, giving the cigarette a hard look.

Jakes scoffed, inhaling a deep breath, "can't believe everything you read Morse," he breathed out deeply, puffing smoke in Endeavour's face.  
Endeavour coughed, waving the smoke out of his face with his hand and giving Jakes an annoyed look.

He only remembered his toast when he smelt burning, and by then it was too late – his toast was just as black as Jakes'. But he didn't have time to try again because one look at the clock told him that he and Jakes needed to be at the station very soon.

Forcing himself to swallow his toast, he followed Jakes round to the front door.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, how did the door-to-door go yesterday, did anybody see anything?"

"You know the deal" Jakes sighed, "its a red car amongst thousands, people couldn't tell us if they had seen in or not."

Without evening registering it, Endeavour slipped into the passenger seat of Jakes' car like it was something out of habit, Jakes didn't seem to notice either how quickly the two of them were getting used to each other's company.


	5. I didn't say stop

Hardly anybody seemed to notice them coming in together either, apart from Strange who pulled Endeavour aside the moment he'd set his coat down.  
"What's going on?" He asked, glancing between Endeavour and the Sergeant, "I hardly see you two exchanging a friendly word, let-alone coming into the station at the same time."

Perhaps it was only then that Endeavour recognised how very strange it would seem to an outsider. If anybody had asked him last week who the last person in the world he'd want to share a flat with was, he would have said Jakes without any hesitation.

"We're flat sharing" Endeavour admitted, "just for a while, my boarder's son is coming home for a bit and I was in his room,"

Strange lifted his eyebrows, "why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you with it until I knew I had somewhere" Endeavour told him truthfully, "Jakes saw me looking in the papers for somewhere new and just offered."

Strange gave Jakes' back a fierce look, "are you sure he isn't just messing with you to get a few laughs?"

Strangely enough, Endeavour felt an urge to defend Jakes, "No, I genuinely believe he just offered."

Strange's eyebrows raised again, but he didn't say anything further.

"Morse," Thursday was calling him from his office, Endeavour gave his friend an apologetic look and hurried to his Inspector's side.  
"We've got three people in who reported a missing person of the victim's description, they're in the mess, I want you to find out who he is."

The mess was full of two women and a man, the first was a young woman who had reported her fiancé missing a few days ago, the next was an elderly woman looking for her son, and the young man was looking for his flatmate.

Endeavour started with the young woman, calling her into one of the empty offices for a chat while the mess staff got cups of tea for the other two still sitting around the tables.

"So tell me Miss...?"

"Jeffreys" the woman sniffed.

"Miss Jeffreys, when did you last see your fiancé?" He spoke gently and patiently. It was from his past experience that the best way to interview a witness was to treat them with respect and patience, otherwise they tended to forget things and close up.

She dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, breathing deeply, "He went off to this club he likes – 'The Daisy'..."

But Endeavour didn't need to listen any more, The Daisy was way off the possible route the car had taken. So he reassured the woman that the body they had wasn't her fiancé's and that they'd keep an eye out for him.

The old woman, Mrs Bradley had last seen her son when he set off for work. His place of work did put him en route with the car, but she reported that her son had a tattoo on his left shoulder that ruled him out.

That only left the young man looking for his room mate.

Mr Travis, explained that he and his room mate had just had a fight and that his room mate, a Mr Edward Kens had gone out to cool off. Their house was en route and the description seemed to match."

"Were their any distinct features your room mate might have told you about?" Endeavour checked, just to see if they could pin this identity unquestionably.

The young man blushed faintly for a moment before saying, "he had a birth mark just here," he pointed to the place just above his thigh, "does that help?"

Endeavour skimmed through the report in front of him and nodded sadly, "I'm afraid it does. We have reason to believe that your room mate was murdered three nights ago."

"No!" Mr Travis' mouth opened, then he slumped in his chair, covering his eyes with his hands, crying softly, "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have pressed him... I shouldn't have..."

"Pressed him about what?"

Endeavour hated to press the poor man while he was in such a state, but he needed an answer that might move them closer to his killed.  
The man choked, sobbing even harder, Endeavour wasn't going to get anything out of him for a while.

He called a female WPC through to take care of him while he reported back to Thursday and sent the women home.

As he passed the front desk he spotted Jakes arguing with the man Endeavour recognised to be Mr Morgan, the one who had reported his car having been stolen.  
The moment Alex Morgan laid eyes on him, he tried to get round Jakes, Jakes however seemed determined to hold him back. "Detective Constable Morse is busy!" Jakes snapped, jerking his head at Endeavour in a motion that told him to get going.

As he was busy, Endeavour nodded and called out to the man, "I'll see if I can see you later," before pushing through into the main office where Thursday was waiting.

"Positive I.D on the victim, his name is Edward Kens, I have his room mate in the mess with one of the WPCs now."  
Thursday beamed, "well done Morse, we'll have another crack at him when he's had time to calm down."  
Endeavour nodded, taking the moment of free time to head back into the reception where both Jakes and Mr Morgan were waiting.

"My car, that car in the papers where that... b-body was found, that's my car! You told me they didn't have it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Endeavour.

"I said I would tell you when I could" Endeavour corrected him, "it was just police procedure."

Mr Morgan pulled past Jakes, grasping Morse by the front of the shirt that didn't belong to him.

"When can I have my car back!" He demanded, his face so close to his that he could feel the other man's breath.

The man was pulled off him by Jakes who looked all but ready to hit him. "Please Mr Morgan, we will contact you shortly" Jakes hissed in a strained voice that sounded like this was an answer he'd already given.

Alex Morgan scowled, but did turn and leave, muttering under his breath as he went.

"Thanks" Endeavour breathed, straightening out his tie and the shirt,

"Yeah well, it's my shirt, I didn't want him to ruin it" Jakes told him in a low voice as he passed on his way to the main office, probably to see Thursday.

Endeavour went back through to the mess to see how Mr Travis was holding out.

He seemed to have calmed down slightly and was nursing a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit to his chest.

"Mr Travis..." Endeavour sat down slowly, speaking softly and carefully, "can you please tell me what the disagreement was about?"

"Why?" Mr Travis sniffed, "it's got nothing to do with why he was killed!"

"Let us be the ones to decide that" Endeavour encouraged, looking up as the door clicked and Thursday and Jakes walked in.

Mr Travis gave a start when he noticed the two other men, neither of which looked as friendly as Endeavour.  
However they did stand back and let him try first, before pushing in and trying their own techniques.

"I-I found out he'd been seeing someone else..." Mr Travis' voice was so quiet that Endeavour had a hard time making out what he'd said.

"Seeing someone else...? Oh... you were in that sort of relationship?"

Mr Travis sniffed, "I knew he had been and I had it out with him and he stormed out... just like that," Mr Travis started to cry again.

Thursday was looking at Mr Travis with the usual shock that was recognisable in people of his age.

Jakes dropped his gaze shiftily to the ground and Endeavour forced himself to focus on Mr Travis, imagining that they were discussing his wife or girlfriend instead, just to make sure he asked the right questions.

"Do you know who he was seeing?"

But Mr Travis was shaking his head, "no, I only found out because I read one of his letters..." Mr Travis reached a hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Endeavour with a look of determination, "I don't want it. If it helps you find Edward's killer, then it will have at least done some good."

The letter was handed over to some of the uniformed constables while Endeavour, Jakes and Thursday headed into the Inspector's office.

"Right, this case is politically hot now that we know our victim was a..." Thursday looked like he was struggling for the right word, neither Endeavour or Jakes stepped in to give him one. Thursday cleared his throat awkwardly, "well you know what I mean. This... Lover that our victim was having an affair with, we need to track him down, sit on uniform until they give you anything useful."

Uniform certainly seemed to be finding the contents of the letter very amusing and were sniggering over them as they passed the letter around.  
Endeavour recognised some of Jakes' drinking friends amongst them.

Although the letters couldn't be taken from the station, most of Jakes' friends seemed to have learnt them off by heart and were reciting them in the pub now, along with hand gestures and overly exaggerated expressions. Endeavour was surprised to see that Jakes wasn't joining in, but sitting a little further back, unnoticed by the rest of them.

When they got to the passage about how Edward should leave John (Mr Travis) for him because he couldn't bare to live without him any more, Endeavour got to his feet and marched up to the group.

"You do realise these are the words of a potential murderer that you're meant to be trying to catch, instead of wasting your time talking about how awkward it makes you feel!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jakes' attention snap up and fix on him with a warning look.

"It's a poof" Jakes' friend replied, sniggering to himself and his mates, "They're like women, physically incapable of murder."  
Endeavour stood straight, although he noticed that he was still pretty small and thin against Jakes' well developed friend.

"Well I think you should check your records again Constable, it's not unheard of for women to kill and it is certainly possible for any homosexual!"

"Well you'd know all about that wouldn't you" one of the others piped up, provoking a reaction of drunken laughter.

Endeavour frowned fixing them all with a fierce look, "you know it's no wonder you lot will remain in uniform all your life" he commented coldly.

Immediately the atmosphere in the room hardened.

Endeavour felt himself being seized from the front, for the second time that day.

"You Oxford dog!" The Constable snapped, throwing Endeavour back against one of the tables, lunging forwards to hit him.  
Bracing himself for the blow, Endeavour closed his eyes, holding back a yell of pain as the constable's heavy fist made contact with the side of his head.

"Stop it!" Endeavour recognised Jakes' hazy voice stepping in, "that's enough George,"

"So you're taking his side now are you!?" The constable demanded, pulling Endeavour up again by the front of his shirt and holding his fist up like he was ready to strike again.

Through his blurred vision, Endeavour could make out the ugly face of the man holding him and of Jakes standing nearby looking conflicted.

Constable George smirked, raising his fist at the ready, but Jakes beat him to it, punching the constable with a smart right hook across the face, causing the man to drop Endeavour to the ground.

Jakes moved between Endeavour and his friend, waiting for a few moments to make sure Constable George wasn't going to try and hit one of them.  
He then turned to help Endeavour to his feet, supporting him by one arm, "come on, I'll get you home" he muttered, giving Constable George a fierce look as he passed him.

Endeavour didn't feel quite safe until they were sitting in Jakes' car.

The side of his head was still throbbing and he was sure there would be a large bruise there tomorrow to show for his evening brawling.  
"Let's go and get your stuff" Jakes mumbled aloud, though Endeavour wasn't sure if Jakes was talking to him or himself.

They pulled out outside Endeavour's board house and both went inside to get his stuff, passing Endeavour's landlady on the first floor landing.  
"This is the friend I'm staying with" Endeavour explained as he passed her by way of explanation.

Endeavour didn't have that many things, so it didn't take that long to pack everything up.

Jakes carried his suitcase full of clothes and necessaries, but Endeavour insisted he be allowed to carry his vinyl player and records.  
This was a hurdle he and Jakes hadn't crossed yet – Endeavour was used to playing opera and classical music into all hours of the night, he wasn't sure that Jakes would appreciate that.

They loaded Endeavour's stuff into the boot of the car before carrying on to Jakes' flat.

"Why did you provoke them?" Jakes asked suddenly after a long silence, "you could have just left them to their silly immature behaviour, but no, you had to go and interfere!"

Endeavour raised an eyebrow, "does that mean you're being immature when your winding me up?" He asked, turning his head curiously to look at Jakes, who seemed to have turned an interesting shade of pink.

"Don't change the subject" Jakes snapped, sighing and shaking his head, "honestly, I don't know how you manage to get by."  
Endeavour smiled, "my sister used to say that all the time" he laughed, helping Jakes with his stuff when they pulled up outside the flat.

It took literally five minuets to tidy away all of Endeavour's stuff before the two of them collapsed down on the sofa.

Jakes' turned his head to face him and winced, "let me go and get some ice for that eye." Jakes got back to his feet and moved his way over to the kitchen, opening the fridge door and somehow returning with both an icepack and cigarette.

He held the icepack gently with one hand over the place where the worst bruising was to help Endeavour find it with his own hand. Their fingers brushed momentarily and Jakes almost dropped the icepack as he recoiled, choking hard as he inhaled too much smoke in one puff.

The cigarette dropped to the floor and Endeavour quickly stamped it out before the rug caught fire. He then reached out his free hand and clumsily patted the other man on the back while he coughed and attempted to catch his breath again.

"I told you they were bad for your health" Endeavour couldn't help but grin as Jakes' coughs began to settle.  
Jakes gave him a watery-eyed glare, though he didn't make any attempt to shake Endeavour's hand off, instead he reached out his other hand to help Endeavour keep the icepack in place.

Endeavour was the one that noticed how close they were first – Jakes was still recovering from his mini choking fit – and he was surprised to find that he didn't mind it, in fact he actually quite liked being this close to the other man.

Jakes' eyes suddenly flashed up to meet his, and for one wild moment they looked at each other, terrified, but neither moving their hand from the other.  
Steadily, Jakes shifted his hand on the icepack until it was over Endeavour's.

There was now no doubt in Endeavour's mind when he felt that hand grasp his, who it was that had caught him in the pathology lab.  
His heart was drumming rapidly in his chest, beating out a tattoo of uneven rhythm as he struggled to keep his breathing at a regular pace.

For the first time in his recountable life, Endeavour felt his mind haze over, focusing only on the feeling of Jakes' hand over his own. Before he could regain his sense he'd leaned forward and pressed a quick but firm kiss on the other man's mouth.

Shock hitting him, he pulled back quickly, meeting Jakes' stunned look with embarrassment.

"What the hell was that for!" Jakes demanded,

"I-I'm sorry" Endeavour stammered, standing up straight away, dropping the icepack. Unsure what else to say he turned to go, but a firm hand grasped his arm, spinning him round.

"I didn't say stop," Jakes mumbled against his lips, kissing him back with all the passion that a chaste kiss could have.  
Encouraged by the response, Endeavour parted his lips, deepening this kiss, shivering slightly as he felt Jakes' hand reach up to grasp the side of his face

The phone was ringing but they ignored it.

Endeavour had never kissed another man before, but he could only say that he was enjoying it so far. Jakes kissed with far more certainty than a woman and his long fingers were firm but so gentle at the same time where they were pressed against his skin.

The phone was still ringing.

With a sigh that felt warm against his skin, Jakes pulled back, glaring at the phone.  
"I'd better get that" he apologised, running his hand slowly and tentatively along Endeavour's side and to his hand, giving it a quick squeeze and offering a smile before going to pick up the phone.

"This had better be important!" Jakes growled, although he immediately stood to attention when he recognised whoever it was on the phone, "sorry sir, we'll... I-I mean I'll be right there. I'll pick up Endeavour... I mean Morse on the way," he hung up quickly.

He turned back to look at Endeavour with such an embarrassed look on his face that Endeavour couldn't help but laugh, stepping forward to kiss Jakes' cheek.  
"We'd better get going, apparently another body's been found, same M.O. As the last one" Jakes sighed, pressing his nose gently against the slightly smaller man's.

Endeavour frowned, "another one..." he shook his head sadly, he'd always hated this part of the job – Being unable to catch a killer before he killed again.


	6. The One you Sent me to be Checked out by

Thursday did give Jakes a strange look when they arrived, but there were other important things at hand for the moment.

Another body.

This one had been found on a train station platform – face cut off, teeth pulled out, two legs tossed out onto the platform and an arm on the rails. Thankfully a woman had found the body before a train had the chance to run over it and tamper with potential evidence.

"Nobody saw anything?" Thursday was asking one of the uniformed constables with exasperation, "it's a busy platform, even at this time of night somebody must have seen something."

Endeavour was blinking fast, he couldn't avoid seeing the body like he had with the one in the car, and although he'd seen the body on a slab, this was so much worse.  
The blood was still dripping down the man's chin onto the bench he was propped up against. His arm and legs were messy stubs with shattered white bone sticking out just past the point where the skin ended.

"Are you okay?" Jakes whispered, perhaps moving a little closer than he'd usually have done.

Endeavour glanced around self-consciously, but nobody was paying them any attention.

Shaking his head, Endeavour turned his back.

"Jakes" Thursday called from the body,

"I'm just helping Morse sir" Jakes called back; Endeavour knew somehow that Thursday was giving Jakes another strange look.  
Thursday knew both him and Jakes better than anyone else, he'd be the first to spot if their was anything odd about their behaviour.

"I'll be fine" Endeavour smiled, giving Jakes a small nudge – and indeed he did feel a little better, it was amazing what the other man's proximity did to his constitution.

Thursday and Jakes were gone for a good while, and when they returned Thursday was instructing them back to the station.  
"You might as well get a lift with Jakes" Thursday told him, "seeing as you came in his car and all, I'll see you both there." Thursday closed the door of his own car and motioned the uniformed constable to drive.

"Anything different?" Endeavour asked, relaxing into the passenger's seat,

"Doesn't seem to be any different to the last one" Jakes replied, his eyes fixed on the road with such attentiveness that Endeavour would have thought he was looking for something.

Jakes pulled up on a quiet street, still a couple of hundred yards from the station.

Endeavour didn't hesitate in responding when Jakes pulled off his seatbelt and leant across the car to kiss him. It was a much more heated kiss than their last one, and he was grateful for an excuse to press his hands against the front of Jakes' shirt, feeling the light muscle underneath.

"What if someone sees?" Endeavour whispered between the kisses, clinging to the front of Jakes' coat to make sure that he didn't pull away.  
"Who's going to be walking the streets at this time of night?" Jakes smirked back, the back of his hand brushing Endeavour's thigh lightly – reminding Endeavour that while Jakes may be being forward now, they were both new and a little uncertain in this area.

Reluctantly, Endeavour pulled away, giving Jakes a playful but firm look, "come on, Thursday's waiting for us."  
Jakes sighed, pulling himself back into his own seat with a final brush of Endeavour's cheek.

"Where the hell have you two been!?" Thursday demanded the moment they entered.

Both Endeavour and Jakes opened their mouths at the same time searching for some excuse, but Thursday was already waving his hand at them, "it doesn't matter anyway," he sat down at his desk seat, "at least this one will be easier to trace, he had a tattoo of a flower or something on his left shoulder..."

Endeavour didn't hear the rest, "did you say his left shoulder?"

Thursday nodded, "have you got something Morse?"

"I think I know who he is" Endeavour told his senior officer flatly.

When Mrs Bradley was called back in she was in hysterics when Endeavour broke the news to her. She kept denying that it could be her Frederick, but her description of the tattoo did match the one they'd found perfectly.

Frederick Bradley was also of the same build that had caused them to phone in Mrs Bradley to question her on the first body. Perhaps that was a pattern...  
The men were slim, but not enough to be unattractive, of average height and were once quite handsome as their 'Missing' posters told him.

Something else might be linking them.

"Mrs Bradley..." He cleared his throat, sitting down opposite her, "I'm sorry to ask this, but do you know if your son was... well... Did he prefer the company of men to women?"  
The question felt incredibly awkward as he asked it, especially because he could still taste Jakes' sharp, smoky taste in his mouth.

Mrs Bradley covered her eyes and shook her head, "he was going to see a doctor, he told me he would get help..." she sobbed, "he was trying so hard to like girls, he just kept falling by the wayside."

The way she phrased her answer made Endeavour feel even more uncomfortable, though he didn't show it.

He was grateful to be called away by a small jerk of Thursday's head.

"Well that's a new lead" Thursday nodded, "people are often quite private about these things, so that tells us we either have a stalker or someone who was quite close to both men. I want you to run their contacts and see if anything in common comes up."

Endeavour first set about collecting the address book from the first victim's room mate... no, boyfriend; then he was given the second by their latest victim's mother.

The first man seemed to have been fairly popular, because his book was almost bursting at the seams – the second's on the other hand was fairly empty, with only a few names per letter, and some letters with no name at all.

He started with 'A', but there was nothing there, so he moved onto 'B', then 'C', and the clock ticked on.

Jakes didn't appear in the office at all, so Endeavour could only assume that he and Thursday were out pursuing another lead.

At around one in the afternoon just as he'd reached 'M', he was disturbed by Strange who greeted him with a small sigh, "that guy who owned the car is back again, says he won't leave until he's seen you."

"Can't you just send him away" Endeavour groaned, rubbing his eyes, he really wasn't in the mood to deal with Alex Morgan at the moment.  
"He said he might had some information on who stole his car" Strange told him.

That had Endeavour on his feet immediately, leaving the address book on the table to follow Strange out into the waiting room.  
Alex Morgan noted Endeavour with a nod and allowed himself to be led down to one of the interview rooms.

"I hear you have some information for us" Endeavour inquired, taking his seat opposite Morgan's – his notebook out eagerly, waiting to hear something that would defog the clouds that were still lying thickly around this case.  
"Well..." Morgan began, "At first, like I told you I wasn't sure if I remembered anything, but then I remembered that I gave my brother a spare set of keys for the car, just in case he needed it when he was in town..."

"Brother?" Endeavour tilted his head, "may I ask for his name and address?"

Morgan opened his mouth to speak, but the door was thrown open before he could say a word.

Jakes stormed in, giving Morgan a very fierce look. It was that particular look that Endeavour had seen Jakes using on quite a few of their most serious suspects in particularly nasty or controversial cases.

Giving Morgan a nervous smile, Endeavour slipped out of his seat, motioning Jakes over to the far corner of the room, where he actually had an excuse to stand close to the other man – so they could whisper without Morgan hearing.

"Come on" Endeavour sighed, "he was just about to give me the name of a potential suspect,"

"And how do you know he's telling the truth?" Jakes demanded, shooting another vicious look at Morgan.

"I don't, but it's worth checking out, right?" He waited for Jakes' reply, fixing his eyes on the other man's, waiting for a response.

Jakes sniffed, and nudged his head gently against Endeavour's before leaving the room.

Taking his seat again, Endeavour heard the door close and continued, "you were saying?"

"Boyfriend?" Morgan asked, nodding at the door where Jakes had vanished.

Never before could Endeavour remember having blushed so much, his mouth dropping open, "how did... I mean, not really... I mean..." He shook his head, "you were going to give me your brother's name?"

Morgan smiled knowingly, but dropped the subject, "We don't have the same surname, he's my half brother you see – I kept my father's old name and he took our new father's name,"

"And?" Endeavour encouraged excitedly,

"Rupert Jones, he lives near where you found my car I think... I haven't visited him in a while so..."

Endeavour couldn't stop a grin spreading over his face; he flew from the interview room almost straight into Jakes who had been standing outside waiting for him.

"You remember that guy I interviewed, Rupert Jones?" He was almost jumping up and down on the spot, his eyes wild with the eagerness to get going.

"Jones?" Jakes placed both hands on Endeavour's shoulders to get him to stand still,

Endeavour smirked, nudging his nose against Jakes' – grateful that the hallway was empty, "he's the one that you sent me to be checked out by, remember?"

Jakes flushed, looking mildly irritated, "oh, right."

They set off almost the moment they'd gotten Thursday up to date with everything. Of course Jones didn't have a defined guilt, but he may be able to tell them if his keys were stolen or shed any light on his own possible guilt.

Somewhere in the back of his mind that had been pushed aside in all the excitement, Endeavour couldn't help but feel doubtful that the flamboyant man he'd met a few days ago could be capable of murder.

Well... He supposed there had been more unlikely murderers found guilty.

They arrived in the quiet village at the house of Rupert Jones followed by a whole division of armed uniformed officers, just in case Mr Jones wasn't planning on coming quietly.

Cautiously, Endeavour and Jakes stood back while Thursday approached the door and knocked.

The door opened after a few moments and Rupert Jones' cheerful face bounded into sight. The cheery look froze slightly when he saw how many policeman there were outside his door.

"Can I help you officer?" He laughed nervously, swallowing hard.

"We'd like you to come down to the station with us, just for some questioning" Thursday told him in a mild manner.  
Jones nodded slowly, looking even more frightened than before as he allowed Thursday to hand him over to one of the officers that helped him into the back of a police car.

"Well that was easy" Endeavour couldn't help but comment, with a slight air of sarcasm, as Thursday came back to them.  
Jakes frowned, "I don't trust that Morgan bloke, and we can't seriously believe this guy knows anything."

Thursday sighed, "I doubt he's our man, but procedure must be followed, besides, we could get a new lead off him before this killer gets another chance to strike."

Mr Jones looked even more shaken by the time Endeavour saw him again in an interview room – he was ghostly pale, holding the mug of tea in his hands tightly to his chest to stop it shaking with the rest of his body.

Endeavour could see where the mascara he'd been wearing had run with silent tears of distress.

This couldn't be their man.

Jakes stood at the back of the interview room, while Endeavour and Thursday sat down at the table, opposite the poor frightened man.

"You have the keys for your brother's car?" Thursday asked gently, keeping a respectable distance from Jones and speaking in a slow and steady tone that told him he could answer at his own pace.

Mr Jones sniffed and nodded, "he gave me his keys so I could borrow his car when I came into Oxford for shopping or clubbing" he answered, choking slightly as his trembles became more violent.  
"And they haven't been stolen at all?" Endeavour put in his own question, trying to mimic Thursday's understanding tone and expression, although he was pretty sure he wasn't pulling it off as successfully.

The man shook his head, "no, there still at home in the basket by the door."

Thursday motioned to Jakes, silently instructing him to get one of the uniform to check that out. Jakes nodded and slipped from the room.

Pressing for one more question, Thursday sighed, "and are you sure nothing happened that night that you thought might be suspicious?"

Jones shook his head again.


	7. You Really Are Amazing Aren't You

It was decided that Jones was too much of a nervous wreck to send home, and as his information about the key hadn't been checked yet, it was decided one of the uniform would take care of him overnight until everything was cleared up.

"Pub?"

Jakes was waiting for him by his desk, his coat already on and Endeavour's in his arm, held out towards him.  
Endeavour took it with a grateful nod, "that's just what I need at the moment."

Endeavour slipped into his usual seat. He and Jakes had decided on the way that, for presentable reasons, they should stick to their own groups, although Jakes did slip a couple of shillings into his hand and tell him to get something for himself on him.

"You and Sergeant Jakes seem to be getting on well" Strange commented as Endeavour sat down at their usual table.  
The query almost made Endeavour jump back up again, but he kept calm and controlled, "Well, he's not that irritating, and we do have to work together" he shrugged fairly.

Strange raised an eyebrow but said nothing more on the subject.

Endeavour left just after he'd noticed Jakes slip out, leaving as slowly as possible to make sure nobody realised he was leaving with the other man.

Jakes greeted him with a smirk, "well I think we have everybody fooled that we still don't like each other,"

"Your friends must be very stupid" Endeavour commented, walking along with Jakes in the direction of the street where he'd parked his car.  
Jakes laughed, "probably, until I met you though I didn't quite notice how stupid they were."

Endeavour smiled, brushing his hand gently over Jakes' fingertips, and allowing his fingers to entwine around Jakes', once he relaxed his hands enough to give him the grip.

More than anything, Endeavour really wanted to reach up and kiss him, but it was way too public on this street, anybody could walk out of the pub and see them – this vague form of hand holding was about as much as they felt safe with.

Slipping into the car, Endeavour once again felt a warm wash of privacy come over him; it was just him and Peter Jakes, with the rest of the world outside and away.

Without any moment warning, Jakes leaned over and kissed him, very gently and chastely, but with all the meaning Endeavour could have hoped for.  
"I told you Morgan was bad news" Jakes brought up on the way back to the flat, "how could he have dropped his poor brother in it like that?"

Endeavour shrugged non-committally, "well he didn't actually say his brother had killed anyone, he just told us he'd given him a spare set of keys."

Jakes snorted, "you know he's been at the police station almost every day trying to find you since he first reported his car," his eyes flashed to Endeavour in an almost possessive way.  
Endeavour laughed, "so what? He's one of those busy-bodies that wanted his car back."

Jakes frowned, "With that look he was giving you?"

"Look?"

Jakes shook his head, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth again, "you're oblivious to the world aren't you?" He grinned, "ah well, at least it means I'm the only one you've got your eyes on."

Endeavour still wasn't sure he understood the bit about Morgan, but he was happy to accept the last bit that was occupied by a warm look from the man sitting next to him.

Back in the flat, the door closed, and Jakes' arm was around him immediately, folding easily around his slim frame as Endeavour felt himself being pulled into a kiss.

Steadily Jakes grew bolder, his mouth left Endeavour's lips and began pressing over his chin then neck.  
Endeavour felt Jakes' teeth brush over his hot skin, along with the tongue that swirled over one point on his skin. A moan reached through his throat, being released against Jakes' ear.  
"Peter..." Endeavour heard himself gasp as the other man's grip tightened, and the feeling of teeth, lips and tongue on his neck became more frantic, there would be a mark there by the time Jakes was finished, and Endeavour could only thank his lucky stars that Jakes had remembered to do it low enough where the mark could be hidden by his shirt.

Endeavour's own hands were clasped tightly round the material of the shirt on Jakes' back, while he could feel Jakes' hands clutching around the front of his shirt.

At some point, Endeavour realised that he must have ended up pushed against a wall, but it didn't bother him.  
Shifting his neck away from Jakes' mouth he seized his lips again in a fierce kiss, feeling his need growing against his trousers, and the hardness against his knee told him Jakes was just as bad.

Sex wasn't exactly something they'd thought of, and Endeavour wasn't sure if now was the right time.  
After all, he'd consider it very wrong if he slept with a girl after only having seen them for a few days, and even if Jakes wasn't the same sort of guy, they were both still in the same position on this, so they broke the kiss and went to deal with their own problems separately.

When he and Jakes arrived shiftily the next morning, Thursday was just taking Jones through to his office for a final chat before sending him home.

Endeavour yawned, he was exhausted – he most certainly hadn't had a night like that since his college days.

He was just about to settle at his desk when Jones let out a hair raising shriek, pointing open mouthed at the board where they had pinned up the two victims.

Thursday's eyes widened and he was standing beside Jones in a second, "you recognise those men?" He asked.  
Endeavour could practically feel the tension in the office rising as everyone waited for Jones' reply.

Jones sniffed, then blushed, leaning forward to whisper something in Thursday's ear that caused the experienced Inspector to blush, clearing his throat quickly and awkwardly motioning Jakes and Endeavour into his private office; leaving Jones with one of the constables to be taken back to questioning.

Thursday sat down as if trying to work out the best way to phrase it, "it would appear that Mr Jones was... 'particular friends' with the two men in question at one point or another... the uniformed constable is just getting some more details now, but we do at least have a link."

"Well that's good sir" Jakes congratulated, patting Thursday on the shoulder with a smile, "finally, I feel like we're getting closer to this bastard."

"Hmm..." Thursday nodded, his gaze slipping between Endeavour and Jakes considerately. "You two seem to be getting along very well, very suddenly" he commented, raising an eyebrow, "Jakes also seems to be giving you lifts into work now Morse."

Endeavour glanced down at the ground,

Did Thursday know? Were they going to lose their jobs over this?

Okay it was perfectly legal, but that didn't make it any more socially acceptable did it.

Jakes also looked like he was lost for words. So they both just waited to see what Thursday would say next. But Thursday said nothing, he just sighed and placed his hands on his desk, "go back and question Mr Jones on whether there was anybody else that knew both men, he might know."

Endeavour nodded, exchanging a look with Jakes before both of them left the office.

Mr Jones had been brought back to the interview room and was waiting with another mug of tea in his hand and a finished off plate of biscuits.  
His eyes were still red from crying and his mascara had run down his cheeks, giving the impression that he'd been crying black tears.

Endeavour sat down opposite him, while Jakes hung back in his usual corner, eyes flitting between the two of them at the table.

"So Mr Jones, you have in fact intimately known both men?" Endeavour asked, his notebook already on the table so he would be sure to jot down anything important that came up in the interview.  
Blushing, Mr Jones nodded, "We all went to the same club, a place called 'The Red Peacock', that's where I met them... it wasn't for long though, I've never been good at holding a long-term relationship..."

"So you weren't trying to persuade Edward Kens to leave his lover?" Endeavour checked, "you didn't send him any letters?"

Again Mr Jones blushed, "I-I sent him one... but I didn't realise he already had a partner when I sent that, I stopped the moment his boyfriend phoned me up to tell me to stop..." He sniffed, looking like he was about to start crying again, "this is always to problem, either they're already involved or are meant to be 'changing their ways', I just want to find someone who I can grow old with..."

Endeavour could practically feel Jakes rolling his eyes at that, but he forced himself to focus on Mr Jones, rather than looking up to check on Jakes.

"So you spoke with..." Endeavour checked his notes "...John Travis?"

"I don't know if that's his name, but he was Edward's boyfriend, he said so" Mr Jones nodded, "I don't think I've ever seen him at the club though, Edward wouldn't have come onto me if there was any chance his boyfriend could have been there."

Endeavour nodded and smiled, waiting to see is Mr Jones continued, but it seemed as though he'd come to a halt and was now sniffing again.

"Well thank you for your help" Endeavour smiled, getting back to his feet and moving towards the door, Jakes followed, letting out a sigh of exasperation as soon as the door had been closed, "blubbing like a baby I can't stand it!" Jakes growled, "E-Even if I am... you know," he blushed, "promise you'll shoot me if I ever become like that," he grabbed Endeavour by both shoulders and gave him such a serious look that Endeavour couldn't help but laugh,

"As there is little fear of that I promise" he grinned, fighting the temptation to kiss the other man. Even if the hall was deserted at the moment, anybody could just walk in, in fact Endeavour would be very surprised if they didn't.

"So Mr Jones says he only sent one letter..." Endeavour contemplated, leaning against the wall, frowning slightly as he always did when he was pondering and remembering, trying to tie all the clues and suspects together with the victims.

Jakes nodded, "but that guy Mr Edwards gave us a whole stack, which means..."

"Either Mr Jones is lying or those letters were written by somebody else..." Endeavour finished, already turning in the direction of the evidence room.  
"I'll go tell Thursday" Jakes called after him, heading off in the opposite direction.

It didn't take Endeavour long to find what he was looking for, pulling out the envelope with all the filed letters in, he carried in back through the station to his desk where Jakes and Thursday were already waiting for him.

Taking the letters from the envelope he laid them all out across his desk. It looked like there were eight letters in total, none of them however had dates on so it was impossible to tell what order they'd been sent in, although Endeavour assumed that the first one would definitely be Mr Jones'.

"Should we take them down and ask which one Mr Jones says he wrote?" Jakes asked, eyes snapping up to Endeavour before Thursday, a small emotional betrayal that was not missed by the DI – he'd never seen Jakes waiting for Endeavour's approval before. He'd been hoping that Jakes and Endeavour would learn to rub along together without arguing like school children all the time, but this was a little too much. A small part of him almost suspected they were playing some sort of joke on him, but he knew that Endeavour would never do anything like that, so that couldn't be it.

"Yes, sounds like I good idea" Thursday nodded, realising that they were both waiting for him.

Watching his two younger co-workers rushing back off in the direction of the interview room, Thursday wondered in the direction of the Super Intendant's office to report the lead that Morse and Jakes had were following.

It only took a couple of seconds for Mr Jones to point out which letter he could remember writing, and it took Endeavour only a few minuets in the hall to explain to Jakes why the letter Mr Jones had told them he'd written and the others couldn't have been written by the same person.

"See the 'T' here" Endeavour was pointing out, "it's crossed neatly here but on this one the top is slightly tilted, and it's tilted to the left, meaning that whoever wrote this one is left handed, Mr Jones, unless he is a very clever and ambidextrous is most certainly right handed, so he couldn't have written these seven letters!" Endeavour finished with a small flourish of his finger against the paper he was holding, and a triumphant and happy looking grin on his face.

"You really are amazing aren't you" Jakes smiled, leaning a little closer so that Endeavour found himself backed up a little closer to the wall,  
"Well not amazing..." Endeavour blushed, "I'm sure..." he was cut-off by Jakes pressing his mouth firmly against his, just for a few seconds before pulling back, his dark eyes shining with adrenalin as he looked around quickly to see if anyone had seen them, but the hallway was still clear. "Sorry" he apologised, "just couldn't resist."

"No problem" Endeavour breathed, wanting Jakes' warm mouth against his again, he was already missing it.

Explaining it the second time round in front of the Super Intendant wasn't anywhere near as fun as explaining it to Jakes, and when he'd finished the Super Intendant didn't look nearly as impressed, although Endeavour was glad that he wasn't going to get a kiss from the older man, he didn't look like he'd ever done anything as informal as kissing someone in his entire life.

"But how do we know he didn't just change his writing style after the first?" The Super asked, scoffing at Endeavour like he'd found a huge hole in his logic,

"Because," Endeavour sighed, trying not to snap or lose his temper, "there are very tell-tale signs that cannot have been replicated by the same person. Whoever wrote the other notes didn't do a very good job at copying Mr Jones' handwriting, enough perhaps to fool someone who was just reading them, but anyone who looks closely can see the clear differences."

The Super still didn't look happy, but Thursday was nodding to Endeavour and Jakes, a sign for them to go, while he persuaded the Super to see it the same way.

"Pub" was Jake's first word after he looked up at the clock, "although I'm not sure exactly where to sit... my friends aren't exactly happy with me at the moment..."  
Endeavour looked down at his feet, "yeah, sorry about that" he apologised, not offering for Jakes to sit with him, because he knew that they were still trying to present themselves as having no connections with one another outside the work place.

"Perhaps I'll just go back to the flat" Jakes shrugged, "I'll see you back there later,"

"I can go back now too" Endeavour offered, hoping that once they got back, a proper make-out session might be in the offing, but Jakes was shaking his head,  
"It's fine, I've got some things to do anyway, you go out and enjoy yourself," he gave Endeavour a small smile before collecting his coat and heading for the door.


	8. You Awake?

Endeavour sat in his usual place with Strange, curiously feeling more ready for Sergeant exam questions than ever before, but Strange's heart didn't seem to be in it today.  
"Are you okay?" Endeavour asked, "you've hardly touched your pint, are you feeling alright?"

Strange looked up, giving Endeavour a rather conflicted look.

"Is something on your mind?" Endeavour changed tact, his brain running like crazy, trying to understand what was making Strange behave like this, so he was surprised when Strange asked,

"Everything's okay with you right? You're not in any sort of trouble?"

"Me?" Endeavour was startled, "No, I'm fine", he didn't understand what Strange was implying with the question. Was that what was upsetting the constable, the thought that Endeavour was in trouble over something.

Now Strange was looking even more uncomfortable, "So Jakes isn't...um... forcing you to do anything?"

Endeavour's face fell, he was beginning to realise where this was going, and he wasn't exactly sure how Strange was going to react.

"...He isn't" Endeavour confirmed, speaking slowly, waiting to see what Strange was going to say next, he didn't want to confess to anything that he didn't have to, although he knew if Strange asked him a question he would most certainly answer truthfully.

Strange lowered his voice, casting a quick look in the direction where Jake's friends usually were, but it didn't look like they'd turned up yet.  
"I-I... I saw... that is to say... in the hall outside of the interview room..." Strange blushed, starting to mumble, he was clearly hoping that Endeavour would finish the sentence for him or at least catch his meaning,

Endeavour glanced down at his half empty pint and considered taking a long swig before answering, but it was better to get these things over and done with as quickly as possible, and with the least amount of alcohol inside you if possible.

"We... we're trying out something new" Endeavour admitted, his tongue clicking against the back of his mouth as he phrased it as delicately as he could, in all honesty he wasn't particularly sure what he and Jakes were exactly.  
They'd kissed, quite a few time now, including a few rather touchy-feely make-out sessions, but their movements were still tentative and uncertain in quite a lot of areas, there were even points when one of them did something new that would instantly cause both of them to spring away from each other like they'd just been bitten by something poisonous.  
Endeavour hadn't really spent any time contemplating his feelings on the matter, he preferred to leave them out of it, he knew himself well enough to know that once he started being emotional about something or someone it inevitably fell apart, and what he had with Jakes at the moment he didn't want to fall apart.

Strange coughed uncomfortably, "so you're not... being forced or anything?"

Endeavour gave him a steady and honest look, replying shortly and calmly, "no, I promise you that I'm not being forced into anything." He had to stop talking about it after that because Jake's friends had just come bursting into the pub. They glared at Endeavour as they passed, muttering curses under their breath as they headed over to sit in their usual place.

"Well, you'd better hope they don't know about you and Jakes' little experiment" he sighed, sitting back in his chair and taking a large swig of beer, finishing off his glass.  
"I know" Endeavour replied all too honestly.

Returning back to the flat, a couple of hours later, Endeavour used his new key to let himself in, and was a little surprised at what he found.

The floor was covered in scribbled notes that looked like they had been placed very particularly in this chaotic order.  
The handwriting was so scruffy it took Endeavour a while to work out what had been written on the sheets of paper, but he couldn't help but smile fondly as he realised that on the sheets of paper someone had obviously spent a lot of time writing out the names of all the people they'd interviewed, including alibis, connections and motives.

A soft sniffing sound from the sofa, caused him to look a little closer.

Tiptoeing across the room, avoiding all the paper Endeavour stood beside Jakes' sleeping form. He still had a pen clutched in his hand, smudging his already inky hand even more so. Endeavour would have tried to move it, but with the vice-like grip that Jakes had on it, he wasn't sure that he'd succeed without waking him.

He'd never seen Jakes asleep before. While they were still adjusting to touching, they'd made the unspoken agreement to sleep in their own beds, and neither ever went into the other one's room.

Curled up in a relaxed fetal position on one side of the sofa, he looked a lot softer, less harsh and sarcastic. His usually tightly combed black hair was standing up at odd angles like he'd been running his fingers through it, and his jacket and tie that Endeavour was so used to seeing him wear had been dropped on the floor at the other side of the room.

Heading back across the room, just as quietly as he'd come, Endeavour retrieved the jacket, bringing it back and draping it carefully across the other man.

"Goodnight" Endeavour whispered, unable to stop smiling as he crossed the room to the hallway where his own room was waiting.

He decided that he liked being one of the few, if not the only one to see this side of Jakes, it meant that he was trusted, Jakes would never allow himself to appear that vulnerable to anybody that he didn't trust not to use it against him.

To people like Peter Jakes it always seemed like the entire world was out to get him, but now he had Endeavour standing by his side, ready to stand and face out against the world with him.

"Endeavour, you awake?"

Endeavour was woken by a knocking on his door. The light outside his window was still weak, so it couldn't be anything past seven in the morning.  
Turning around, he checked the clock beside his bed, 'half six' it read, why on earth would anyone be waking him this early.

There was a pause, followed by another light knock.

"Yeah, I'm up" he mumbled, if he'd been more awake he would have been embarrassed by how slurred and disorientated his voice sounded.  
The door opened a crack and Jakes peered through, almost nervously, holding out one of the sheets of paper Endeavour had seen on the floor last night, as if just to be sure Endeavour didn't think he was imposing anything else on him by coming into his room at such an early hour.

"How long have you been up?" Endeavour yawned, sitting up in bed and taking note that Jakes already looked like he'd showered, and was dressed in his usual crisp and styled fashion.

"About an hour" Jakes admitted, sitting awkwardly on the edge of Endeavour's bed and handing him the sheet of paper. "Travis doesn't have an alibi for either of the murders" Jakes pointed out, "and according to your map thingy, he's on a road that's within the time to get to Morgan's house, nick the car and get out to where we found the car and kill that bloke. It would also explain how the murdered guy came to be driving, perhaps they stole the car together, or Travis made him drive, or..."

Noticing suddenly, that despite Jakes being showered and dressed his hair was still standing on end, Endeavour reached out a hand to flatten it, "how much coffee have you had?" He asked slowly,

"Only two mugs," Jakes waved his hand dismissively, "but what do you think?"

Endeavour considered for a moment, then nodded, "yeah, we should tell Thursday when we get in, but we still don't have a motive for Bradley. The only connection between the two men we have at the moment is that they both dated Jones."

Jakes seemed to deflate at this. He sighed and let his head fall forward onto the covers, that Endeavour was still mostly under.  
"That doesn't mean that there isn't something we've just missed" Endeavour quickly reassured him, rubbing the back of Jakes' head softly, "we can go and have a look at everything together it might help, two minds are better than one after all," he smiled gently. There was no way he was getting any more sleep.  
The dark haired man raised his head slowly, reaching out to take the side of Endeavour's face cautiously with his hand, tilting him into a kiss, that Endeavour was more than happy to return.

"We could look later..." Jakes suggested, pulling out of the kiss, his long fingers still against the other man's cheek, just brushing the blonde hair above his ear.

"We could..." Endeavour agreed, initiating another kiss, gripping and Jakes' tie to support him in a better angle.  
It started off slow, like many of their kisses, but then it began to deepen.

Endeavour allowed Jakes to take control of their movements, being pressed against his pillows by the kiss.  
While Jakes wasn't exactly straddling him, he was leaning above him, kissing with every ounce of desire he had, stopping for breath only when either of them felt like their lungs were about to explode.

He hadn't even realised that he'd already removed Jakes' tie and seemed to be in the middle of undoing the buttons on his shirt, his fingers tracing over the subtle muscle of the other man's chest.  
Jakes moaned against the kiss, lowering and angling his body so that Endeavour had better access.

Now fully conscious of what he was doing, Endeavour slipped the still half done up shirt off Jakes' shoulders, breaking the kiss so that he could pull himself up again to place butterfly kisses along the other man's collar bone.  
Jakes let out another moan, pressing his lips against the smaller man's forehead, inhaling in deeply through his nose against Endeavour's hair, that was as light and fluffed up as it always was at work.

"Hello?"

The two of them sprang apart. Jakes actually managed to fall out of the bed with an almighty and very painful sounding crash.

"Jakes?"

"Thursday!?" Endeavour hissed from the bed, his heart hammering in his chest.

"You left the door unlocked!" Jakes hissed back, struggling to do his shirt up on the floor before jumping to his feet to look for his tie, while trying to flatten his hair at the same time.

He and Endeavour shared one nervous look before Jakes sprung from the room, Endeavour could hear him in the hallway.  
"Sir?"

"Sorry to come all the way out here, but neither you or Endeavour are answering the phone and his landlady said he'd moved out, I know it's early but... Is your neck alright?"

Endeavour almost cursed out-loud, and he was pretty sure that Jakes had before speedily recovering, "um... yeah, I burnt it in the... shower."  
Well at least Endeavour had learned one more thing about Jakes, he was a terrible liar.

He was pretty sure that Thursday didn't believe Jakes' quickly fabricated and badly delivered story, but he didn't press, although Endeavour could almost feel that knowing frown. Thursday knew something was going on between them, but it didn't seem like he knew quite what it was yet. God help them when he did.

"What's the problem sir?" Jakes had moved the conversation on, "it sounds urgent?"

Thursday sighed, "Rupert Jones hung himself last night, our only key witness is gone, with nothing but a suicide note that really tells us nothing..."  
The rustle of paper sparked Endeavour's attention.

Getting out of bed, he quickly pulled on his dressing gown and peered around the door frame, trying to keep out of sight.  
He could see Thursday passing Jakes a slip of paper.

Jakes ran his hand through his head nervously, shooting Endeavour a look, like he'd known Endeavour was going to stick his head around the door.  
"Actually Endeavour's been staying with me, till his landlady's son moves out again" Jakes admitted, "you can get him to take a look if you want."

"What?" Thursday looked incredibly surprised, "you and Morse living together, since when?" He raised his eyebrows as if to add 'and since when is it 'Endeavour' with you?'

"Only a few days so far" Jakes admitted, looking rather hot around the collar, he motioned quickly to Endeavour, hoping that Endeavour's quick brain would spot something in this note to distract Thursday with.

Endeavour skimmed through the note, looking out for careful signs that he knew were common with suicide notes, also keeping an eye out for something that didn't fit, but there wasn't anything, and this was definitely Jones' handwriting.  
"It looks genuine" he admitted, handing it back to Thursday with a sigh, shaking his head softly, "who found him?"

"His brother" Thursday sighed, "he came to check on him after we sent him back and found him hanging from the banister. He's back at the station now... he's not in the best of moods with us at the moment, says it's our fault he did this..."

"Perhaps it is" Endeavour admitted sadly, after all, Jones didn't even know he was connected with these killings until he'd seen the photographs on their evidence board.

Thursday shrugged, "we had to go through procedure, although I'll admit I failed to see how much it had distressed him," Thursday's regretful look was forced into a more practical one, "right, we need to reinterview Mr Morgan, and I think we should bring Mr Travis back in for questioning."

Endeavour nodded, giving Jakes a small encouraging look.

Jakes looked stumped for a moment before catching on, "oh yeah, I was going back through the case and..." he explained what he'd been telling Endeavour earlier, to Thursday, but in a more controlled way that made far more sense.

Thursday listened, frowned and nodded, "Okay, sounds like you're pretty up-to-date, we'll interview Travis, Morse you can interview Morgan."  
Endeavour was about to nod, when he caught the look of alarm on Jakes' face. He'd already gotten the impression that Jakes was not very fond of Morgan, something about a 'look'? Endeavour couldn't really remember what the reason was that Jakes had given.

Jakes looked like he was using every fibre of control not to blurt out something contrary to Thursday's order.  
"Perhaps I should interview Morgan, after all you're always saying Morse has a good insight into things, Travis sounds more suspicious from the point of view of the evidence."

Looking completely baffled, Thursday blinked at Jakes, "We'll be able to handle Travis I'm sure, you're okay with Morgan aren't you Morse?"

Glancing at Jakes, Endeavour hesitated, he knew Jakes wanted him to refuse, but he couldn't think of a good reason to do so.  
"Yes, I'm fine Sir" Endeavour nodded, turning back to Thursday.

He really wanted a chance to speak with Jakes in private before they left for the station, but Thursday looked like he was going to hang around until they left. Endeavour was forced to leave Jakes with their DI while he went back to his room to get changed.


	9. Finally you get it

Thankfully Thursday got into his own car to get to the station, a young Constable was driving the car, Endeavour realised guiltily that he didn't recognise him, although Jakes seemed to, because he gave the constable a quick nod.

"You can't be in a room alone with that guy" Jakes started the moment Endeavour had put his seatbelt on.  
"Why not?" Endeavour sighed, with a frustrated laugh, "he's a suspect in this case, I need to be able to talk to him."

Jakes started up the car with a little more aggression than usual, "can't you see he obviously likes you?" The dark haired man kept his eyes fixed on the road, giving it a steely glare, his sharp eyes would probably catch the eye of any poor driver coming in the opposite direction that would probably think it was directed at them.

"Well I suppose he knows me better than the other cops, I have spoken to him a little more..."

"No, no, no" Jakes shook his head, looking even more annoyed, "he l-i-k-e-s you, and I don't like him looking at you." Jakes' hands were gripping the wheel so tight, that his knuckles were turning a very pale white.

It suddenly hit him, "...oh..." and he realised he couldn't deny what Jakes had said. Morgan certainly seemed to pay him a lot of attention, and his eyes always seemed to be particularly attentive on following his movements.

Jakes threw his hands up off the wheel, "finally you get it."

Endeavour thought for a moment, "Look... he doesn't interest me at all, he may..." he cleared his throat, "'like' me, but that doesn't mean he can do anything in a police station. I'll ask Strange to sit in with me if that'll make you feel more comfortable with it."

Sniffing, Jakes nodded stiffly, "thanks" he mumbled, taking his hand of the gear stick for a couple of seconds, to brush his little finger against Endeavour's hand.

Giving him a reassuring smile, Endeavour welcomed the touch by linking his own little finger with the Jakes'.

They arrived at the station just behind Thursday.

Jakes got into Thursday's car, taking the place of the constable, giving Endeavour a short nod before setting off to Mr Travis' flat.

True to his word, Endeavour found Strange in the cafeteria enjoying his breakfast sandwich. Endeavour didn't explain the situation fully, but told Strange enough to suggest he wasn't comfortable doing the interview on his own.

Morgan was indeed furious, although his temper seemed to settle a little when Endeavour and Strange came in to take-over from the poor constable who had been sitting in their with him until their arrival. The man looked rather warn down and angry, although it didn't look like he'd snapped or said anything inappropriate.

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother," Endeavour took a seat, giving Morgan a genuinely sorry look.  
Morgan growled, "if you lot hadn't of pushed him like that this wouldn't have happened! I only told you that I'd given him a spare set of keys to my car, that didn't mean that he was a killer, you only have to look at him to know that!"

"I know" Endeavour continued in a quiet voice, "and I'm very sorry, but we need to ask you a few questions, just part of the routine."  
He went through all the basic questions like: 'How did you find him?' and 'Did you move anything?'  
Morgan answered all his questions, but he did not look happy about it.

As he was asking, Endeavour couldn't help but notice the way Morgan's eyes kept settling on his mouth or fingers as he flexed them against each other on the table. Now that Jakes had pointed it out to him, it was very hard to miss.  
He found himself glancing at Strange every now and then, to see if he'd picked up on it, but if he had, he made no sign to suggest so.

However, just as he was coming into the third and last batch of questions there was a knock on the door – Strange was needed in a burglary call, the constables were short staffed apparently.  
Strange gave him an apologetic look, Endeavour shrugged and smiled as the other man left, leaving him and Morgan alone together, something Jakes would hopefully not hear about.

"Did your brother previously show any suggestion of..."

"You're boyfriend not around today?" Morgan interrupted, his voice lazy and smooth, although the anger was still hard and encased in his eyes.  
Endeavour blushed and tried to continue, "...any suggestion of depression in the past?"

Morgan waved his hand, "of course not, he was the most cheerful person you could ever meet," he leaned forward on the table, eyes fixed right on Endeavour's.  
"He's very protective isn't he? Bet he told you to bring that constable in with you?"

"Actually I suggested it" Endeavour told him, breaking the eye contact by looking down at his notebook where he'd been jotting all of Morgan's replies down.

Morgan seemed amused by this, "why, do you think I'm dangerous?"

"Of course not" Endeavour sighed, "It's general practise to have two officers in an interview," he knew this wasn't entirely the reason why Strange had been in here with him, after all, this wasn't really an official interview.

Unfortunately Morgan seemed to notice that he wasn't telling the whole truth either. The other man got out of his chair and walked around the desk, leaning against the wall so that he and Endeavour were facing each other without the desk between them. Uncertainly, Endeavour stayed where he was, keeping an eye on what Morgan was doing, aware that he could get up and leave at any time if Morgan really did anything that either he or Jakes would consider inappropriate.

"You know you're just my type" Morgan smiled, a smile that showed all of his teeth, the complete opposite of Jakes' subtle little upwards turns of his lips.  
"Am I?" Endeavour asked, keeping a disinterested tone in his voice, hoping it would deter him.

"You know if that boyfriend of yours isn't as affectionate as you want..." He leaned in a little closer, not so that he was actually touching, but certainly in Endeavour's comfort zone, causing the blond to twitch a little, his face heating up simply as a result of the alarming proximity.

Dropping his gaze, Endeavour tried to keeping his breathing under control, nervous he was going to end up having a panic attack.  
"Mr Morgan would you please take your seat" he instructed firmly, but his voice was trembling and a little higher than usual, an obvious sign of nerves that Morgan would have to be very stupid to miss.

He could feel the proximity closing, Morgan's hand was reaching towards his face, by now he was too close, meaning that Endeavour couldn't actually get out of his seat, he could only edge away from the grasp, before his neck would no longer allow it.

Morgan's fingers brushed his lips, the man smiled as he did so, "there not so bad is it?"

The door was thrown open with a tremendous amount of force. Endeavour didn't actually have time to process who had done it, but he really didn't have to guess.  
Morgan was pulled away from him. The man stumbled and fell against the wall, hitting his head with a loud 'smacking' sound as a fist made contact with the side of his face.

Jakes was trembling with fury as he pinned Morgan against the wall, "you stay the fuck away from him!" He hissed, his voice trembling with rage at every syllable.

Morgan didn't say anything, but his eyes had widened in panic, he obviously hadn't seen this coming.

"What in God's name are you doing!?" Thursday arrived at the door, red in the face, he'd clearly run after Jakes from where presumably the other man had taken off very suddenly.

Jakes' gaze didn't shift from Morgan's for a long couple of seconds, before he turned away slowly and moved towards Endeavour.  
"You know the slut's asking for it" Morgan muttered.

Endeavour opened his mouth in shock, he'd been called a great many things in life, but a 'slut' was not one of them.  
He could hear Thursday stammering, clearly he'd been taken aback by the language too.

Jakes however, threw himself at Morgan, driving him to the floor with his fists, and when his fists could no longer reach, his foot.  
Thursday had to call two constables in to pull him off, and by the time they had it looked suspiciously like Jakes had broken Morgan's nose and caused several bruises around his face.

Endeavour slipped out with them, leaving Thursday to deal with Morgan.

"Jakes mate what's wrong?" One of the constables was asking, while the other shot Endeavour a dirty look.  
Jakes' eyes fixed on Endeavour's calm expression and stayed there, refusing to look at either of the two constables until he'd stopped trembling.

The constables glanced between Endeavour and Jakes, looking unsure.

"Hey get out of here," the one who had been giving Endeavour a nasty look shooed, "he doesn't want you here, you're just making him worse!"

Endeavour ignored him, staying right where Jakes needed him – within eyesight and away from Morgan.

They were standing and sitting in the locker room, a place that the detectives didn't really use, but was a common meeting place for constables according to Strange, that must be why the constables had thought of bringing Jakes here to cool off.

"What happened mate?" The first constable tried again, placing his hand on Jakes' shoulder, "if it's Morse we can get him to leave."

Feeling his own temper beginning to run short, fuelled by the embarrassment of being rescued by Jakes and then referred to like some bastard might call a woman – and one they had a low opinion of at that – was only added to by these idiots. "It's clearly not me, I wasn't the one he was kicking in back in the interview room" Endeavour pointed out icily.

Jakes blinked, he looked surprised by the tone, it certainly seemed to help in bringing him back to a calmer disposition.

The constables were also shocked, but recovered a little quicker, "now you listen here!" The more aggressive of the two started, glowering at Endeavour, "you may not of been, but if you don't clear out of here I'll be sure to finish off what George started in the pub!"

Endeavour was about to snap something back, when Jakes suddenly but steadily rose to his feet, positioning himself between Endeavour and the other constables, giving them what Endeavour could only imagine to be a 'back-off' look.

Jakes really was somebody who communicated a lot through those sharp eyes of his.

The constables looked confused, but shrugged and backed out of the locker room, leaving the place to just the two of them.  
There was a long tense silence before Endeavour opened his mouth, "Strange had to leave..."

"No kidding" Jakes muttered, his voice still tense with irritation, "thankfully we bumped into him on the way into the station."

Endeavour nodded, so that must have been where Jakes had suddenly sprinted off, leaving Thursday to hurry on behind him.

"Thanks though..." Endeavour bent down, noticing for the first time that Jakes had a split lip and a few bruises of his own, Morgan must have managed to land some of his own hits before Jakes knocked him to the floor.  
He reached out his hand slowly, touching the corner of Jakes' mouth, avoiding the split lip carefully.

Jakes closed his eyes contentedly, "Well I suppose you couldn't have done anything differently" he admitted, "hopefully Thursday won't put you in on your own with him again."

"And risk you breaking down the door like a mad thing again, I don't think so" Endeavour smiled, chuckling a little, feeling that familiar turn of Jakes' lips beneath his fingers, and a lighter sparkle in his dark eyes.

"Yeah, I'm probably going to get into trouble for that,"

"It was reasonable response to threatening behaviour" Endeavour reasoned, leaning forward so that their noses brushed, fitting against each other perfectly. Although he could feel Jakes nudging their heads closer, he didn't want to risk any more damage to that split lip until the medic had gotten a chance to look at it.

"Did he do anything?" Jakes' voice sharpened slightly as he ask, opening eyes eyes to give Endeavour a soul searching look,  
"Nothing that you didn't see" Endeavour replied honestly. They were so close that Endeavour could feel Jakes' warm comforting breaths as he spoke, and he was sure Jakes could feel his.

"Good" Jakes replied, trying to kiss him again, but Endeavour like before kept just out of reach,

"You need to get that lip seen to" he sighed, smiling softly and pulling away completely, deciding that he was being unfair getting that close and refusing a kiss.  
"Dam my lip" Jakes shrugged, moving with the smaller man until he had him pinned against one of the lockers, their chests pressed right against each other, without any hands in the way like there usually was when Endeavour ended up being pressed against something.

He could feel Jakes' heart racing madly under his shirt, matching the rhythm of his own that seemed to be getting some sort of buzz off being so physically close to Jakes.  
"I..." Jakes licked his lips, sounding hesitant, "I-I want you," he flushed, but kept their eyes locked,  
Endeavour nodded, understanding what Jakes meant, because he wanted it so much himself, "do you know how to?" He asked, realising that this was where they were going to reach a snag, after all, it wasn't exactly something that your embarrassed and flustered teacher told you about while you were in school.

"We'll umm... work it out" Jakes suggested with a quiet and awkward laugh.

"Morse?" It was Strange's voice calling through the door sounding awkward, Endeavour knew why he'd called and not just come straight in, Strange was the only other person who actually knew about this relationship other than himself and Jakes.

Separating from Jakes, Endeavour went over to the door and opened it, "how was the burglary?"

"False alarm" Strange sighed, nodding mildly to Jakes who was still hanging back around the lockers. "Thursday wants to see both of you" Strange delivered, squinting his eyes at Jakes, "and I'll get one of the first aid people down to see to that cut of yours," he gave Endeavour a sigh and an imploring look before disappearing back into the hallway.

Jakes moved forwards towards him, and together they left the locker room, heading to Thursday's office, not quite sure what to expect.  
When they arrived, both were relieved to find that Morgan was not there, although Thursday certainly did not look very happy.

"I need an explanation," he gave them a hard look, "from both of you. Something is going on and I want to know what it is."

Endeavour and Jakes shared a look, silently trying to work out how much they were going to tell their DI.  
"I want to know the whole truth" Thursday reminded them, motioning for them to sit down in the chairs opposite his desk. Obediently they both sat.  
Endeavour started, "it was my fault, when he got to his feet I should have registered him as threatening and called another constable in, Jakes was only doing what any other officer would have done."  
Thursday shook his head, looking at Jakes in particular, "but you seemed to know something was going on even before we entered the room,"  
"Suspected" Jakes mumbled, correcting his phrasing, "I just noticed that Morgan seemed particularly focused on Morse and figured that them being in a room together might not be a good idea."

The older DI sighed, "you're both telling me what happened, but you're not telling me why. A couple of weeks ago you would have been perfectly happy to let Morse get himself into an embarrassing situation, what's changed?"  
Jakes stammered for a couple of seconds, clearly trying to disagree, but considering at the start of this investigation he'd sent Endeavour off to get checked out by Jones so that he could score a few cheap jibes at the pub kind of deflated any point he could have made.

"We're getting on better" Endeavour offered lamely and hopefully, perhaps that would do it. After all, he knew that if Strange or Thursday had known he was in trouble they would have come running too, okay perhaps they might not have broken the guy's nose, but Jakes had always been a patch on the aggressive side when he was wound up.

Closing his eyes, Thursday leaned back on his chair, rubbing his temples, looking exhausted, "look...I may be old..."

Jakes and Endeavour opened their mouths immediately to reassure him that he wasn't that old, but they understood his drift.

Thursday lifted an eyebrow, looking perhaps just a little amused by their attempts, "as I was saying, I may be old, but that doesn't mean I'm blind, if this is something you don't want to tell me about yet, fine, but please Jakes, the next time you feel the need to knock several bells out of someone giving Morse the eye, don't."

Both Jakes and Endeavour were flushed pink by the time Thursday dismissed them, asking Jakes to brief Morse on what they'd gotten from their interview with Mr Edwards.

"He doesn't have an alibi, says he was at home the whole time" Jakes explained, clearly not wanting to talk about what Thursday had been suggesting in the office.  
"Does he look like he's lying?" Endeavour tilted his head,  
Jakes turned, looking a little happier as he grinned across at him, "oh yes."

The two constables from earlier were lurking around near the back of the office, clearly waiting for Jakes.  
Sighing softly and discretely enough so that only Endeavour noticed, Jakes crossed the room towards them, leaving Endeavour by his own desk, knowing that the eager Oxford-boy would be by the evidence board having a brain wave by the time he got back.

"Thursday didn't lay into you too hard did he?" Constable Frankie Michelson, the less aggressive of the two, took a tentative step toward him, "Morse was there he should have backed you up..."  
"He did" Jakes dismissed, giving his full attention to the other Constable, one of George's particular friends, his name was Harry Wilde, not as strongly built as George but certainly more brawn than brain, although perhaps a little too much perception for somebody so stupid.

Harry sniffed at him, giving him a cold look, "why did you send us out, I'd of understood if you wanted to hit Morse yourself, but you know we'd never have reported you," Harry glanced at Morse and frowned, "Pete it doesn't look like you've even knocked a hair on his head..."

Giving him a fierce look, Jakes again moved between Harry and Endeavour, his Endeavour. "Yeah well I didn't want anything Thursday might pick up on, just told him to make sure he told my side of the story, that sort of thing," as he said this, Jakes realised with an amused unease that he lied far too well and far too easily – his teacher at school had told him that he'd either grow up to be a brilliant criminal or a bad copper.

He gave Harry a challenging look, daring him to say something to the contrary, but the Constable looked convinced, "no need to be so snappy about it. You going to be in the pub later?"

Jakes shrugged, "maybe," he actually really wanted to get back to the flat and continue with Endeavour where they'd left off in the locker room.

"Your never in the pub any more" Harry sighed, "and when you are you're not as much fun as you used to be."  
Jakes rolled his eyes, "I was there three nights ago,"  
"Yeah and you hit George" Harry pointed out, a sharp edge of aggression creeping into his voice, "something's happened to you and I know that bastard Morse has got something to do with it," he narrowed his eyes across the room at the younger blond DC, who was completely oblivious to the looks he was getting, completely absorbed in the evidence board.

Frankie shrugged and gave Jakes a small apologetic smile, nudging his friend to suggest that they left.  
Harry gritted his teeth, but followed Frankie from the office all the same. Jakes watched them go and didn't take his eyes off them until he was certain that they were gone and out of earshot.

"So?" He glided across the room to stand by Endeavour, following his gaze to the board, "ideas?"

Endeavour tapped a card on the top right hand side of the board, "we haven't checked that place out yet have we?"  
Jakes glanced around him to see what he was pointing at, it was a card from The Red Peacock, the club that both Jones and Edward Kens, their second victim had both been too.

The dark haired man flushed, "no we haven't" he admitted, "Thursday suggested that we went tonight but I told him you were busy,"  
Frowning and crossing his arms, Endeavour fixed the other man with a steady look, "I appreciate your warning about Morgan and I'm grateful for you helping me out, but I think I can manage to follow a line of inquiry at a gay bar, with both you and Thursday 'keeping an eye on me',"  
Jakes sniffed, looking annoyed, "fine, but we don't split up at any time."

Closing his eyes and calming himself down, Endeavour tapped his fingers carefully against Jakes' palm, a gentle and discrete indication of holding hands in public that they'd gotten used to quite quickly.  
"I know your just doing what you think is right, but you are being a little too overprotective don't you think?"  
"Maybe" Jakes mumbled, his gaze fixed off to the side as he returned Endeavour's finger tapping gesture.

Endeavour smiled, his eyes lighting up as Jakes turned to meet his gaze, Jakes blushed and looked away again, but Endeavour knew that the side of his mouth was curled up in his own shy smile.


	10. Now I Know What It Feels Like

Thursday led the way awkwardly through the front door of the club, his warrant clutched tightly in his hand to show to everyone and anyone that came even remotely close.  
Endeavour and Jakes followed closely behind, trying not to make eye contact with anybody in the club as they brushed through the crowd.

They didn't stop until they reached the manager's door.

"I'm going to go and talk with the manager, you two see what information you can get, I'm sure I don't need to tell you two to stick together?"

Jakes and Endeavour dropped their gaze and shook their heads, again caught by the uneasy feeling that Thursday knew.

While they stood close by to one another, they did make the effort to interview somebody each, they'd get through the crowd quicker that way.  
But Endeavour couldn't help but glance over his shoulder between questions with the slightly older man by the bar, who was there with what looked like a very long-term partner. Jakes seemed to be getting a lot of attention, particularly from the younger men in the club.

The older men were quite nice, very much like the usual elderly citizens that Endeavour had interviewed in the past.  
They didn't know very much about the two men, although they did recognise Jones by the photo that Endeavour showed them.

"He used to sit over there, nice young man" one of the older men told him, "sometimes he was with someone, sometimes he wasn't. His brother's a regular as well,"  
"Alex Morgan?" Endeavour back-tracked,  
"Oh you know him" the other old man smiled, "bit of a troubled lad, but he usually means well."

A flirtatious laugh caught Endeavour's attention, and he turned again to see Jakes rather awkwardly talking to a young man who was grinning like a Cheshire cat at Jakes, twirling a finger through his brown long hair.

"Quite a looker there if you don't mind me saying" the second old man nodded, "he's handsome but quite cute in a way,"  
Endeavour fought down his blush, they didn't have to tell him that.

"Your a looker too though" the first added, "and certainly heavy on the cute side, you just seem to give off this... aura," he motioned his hands around Endeavour to demonstrate, "makes you seem less approachable."  
Endeavour could have scoffed, in what universe did Jakes seem more approachable than him?  
...Well the homosexual universe evidently.

"Don't listen to them" another old man called from the bar, "you just look more like a settling down sort of guy, where as he's a fuck and quit sort of guy."  
Although the old man being kind in his own way, Endeavour bit his lip, wanting to defend Jakes. Okay, until he'd actually 'gotten involved' with Jakes he'd had him down as very much the same sort of person, but there was a softer and more gentle side to the other man, nervous and insecure, you just had to get close enough to him to see it.

One guy in particular seemed to be hanging around Jakes more than Endeavour liked.  
He was tall, attractive with neatly trimmed dark hair and large brown eyes that he kept aiming at Jakes. Endeavour could see that the sergeant had noticed and was doing his best to avoid them.

Endeavour shot a glare at the man, knowing that it probably looked more like an irritated pout.  
The guy turned and spotted him, giving him a quick glance up and down, before turning his head back to Jakes, apparently bored with Endeavour after one glance.

"Excuse me" Endeavour smiled politely at the older gentleman, already beginning to push his way through the crowd around Jakes, sticking himself firmly to his side, a little closer than he'd of liked Thursday to see, but hopefully these guys would know what it meant.

"Endeavour?" Jakes blinked, giving him a confused look, apparently he wasn't the only one oblivious to looks and attention after all.  
Endeavour relaxed as he felt the darker haired head nudge carefully against his own in an affectionate manner.  
A couple of guys seemed to get the idea because they began to drift back to the bar or whatever they'd been doing before they'd started questioning them, but some wouldn't quit, girly hair and that tall guy were amongst them.

"Umm, Michael here was just telling me that he knew Jones quite well" Jakes explained, motioning to girly hair.  
"Hmm" Endeavour hummed, his hands twitching to cling onto Jakes' arm and not let go.

"Oh yes, shame about what happened, he was always very jumpy though," girly hair sighed, drifting closer to Jakes, seeking comfort, Endeavour stuck his leg out a little to make it impossible for them to get too close without making a big deal of it.

"Did you know a man by the name of Edward Kens, Rupert Jones or Frederick Bradley?" Endeavour pressed, trying to keep the man's attention away from Jakes, because as it was girly-hair Michael seemed to be finding Jake's sharp cheek bones rather interesting at the moment.

"Oh everyone knew Eddy, he came here sometimes with his boyfriend, some Oxford-boy, but he liked to play around if you catch my drift," Michael laughed, his voice far too high to be natural. He thought for a moment on the second name, "you know I think he came in here a few times, could be wrong though, he was quite a quiet guy, but he and Rupert took quite a shine to each other, I think they dated for a bit, but if you ask me Freddie was a much better choice, shame he could never decide whether he was gay or not."

While girly-hair seemed to have retraced his steps a little, the tall guy was still hanging around, close enough now to be looking down at Jakes' neck with a small tilt of his head.  
Jakes' flushed cheeks and twitchy look told Endeavour very clearly that Jakes had noticed this guy, even if he'd missed all the others.

"I think my friend would rather that you didn't stare like that" Endeavour addressed the other male coldly, not moving from his place at Jakes' side.  
The man paused, his large eyes narrowing at Endeavour, "what's it to you?" He smirked, "piss off, go and interview the old chaps again, there's a good boy."

Endeavour pushed forward, feeling one of Jakes' hands on his arm as if suddenly clocking that his blonde companion was very likely to start a fight and get several kinds of shit beaten out of him, because Endeavour was hopeless when it came to fighting anyone.

"Judging by that condom in your pocket you think he's easy, just thought I'd save you the time by making it clear that he's not going to let you have a quickie in the alley."

The man was looking down at Endeavour – who was much smaller than him, with a very angry look.

"The fuck you know" the man, struck Endeavour's chest with both his palms, sending him crashing backwards into girly-hair, who let out a high-pitched squeal of alarm, "I can tell that he's a lot less on the straight and narrow than most you bastards if you know what I mean," he gave Jakes a quick grin that was not returned, in fact it was met by a very icy look from Jakes, who seemed to have snapped back to his senses now that Endeavour was in some form of danger.

"Yeah I know that" Endeavour snapped back, pulling himself away from the bastard, marching straight up to Jakes and grasping his face with one hand to lead him into a chaste but very obvious kiss.

Jakes seemed to lose himself in it for a moment, before pulling back looking very flustered, eyes shooting in the direction of the manager's door where they'd last seen Thursday.

Girly-hair sighed, twirling his brown locks, "should have known, the good looking ones are always taken."  
The tall bloke grunted, giving Jakes and Endeavour a grouchy look before pushing off.

With everybody interviewed and a little useful information gathered, Jakes and Endeavour knocked on the manager's door, coming through to find Thursday chatting with a short woman in her early-thirties at a glance.  
She was handing Thursday a printed list of her staff along with the complaints book.  
"But you bring it back you hear and if I find out its been used against any one of my boys simply because of who they are I'll..."

"I promise it won't" Thursday was assuring her, looking relieved when Endeavour and Jakes entered, "there's my team now, we really should be going."

All three of them could say that they were happy to be out of that Club.

Jakes had to drive Thursday back, so Endeavour caught a lift with them, afterall, Jakes would be heading back to his apartment after this, so it seemed stupid to catch the bus.

While Thursday was in the car they went over witness statements and the notes that Endeavour and Jakes had made.  
When they arrived at Thursday's house he took the complaints book and staff list with him, wishing them both a good night, while Endeavour slipped into the front seat next to Jakes.

Jakes waited until Thursday was safely in his house before pulling away and turning the car around.

That was when he burst out laughing.

Endeavour was confused and a little taken aback, while he may be one of the few that had seen Jakes smile, he had never seen him laugh, but here he was wiping a tear from his eye and grinning at Endeavour like an adolescent.

"I can't believe you ended up being the one that stood up for me, now I know how it feels and I can see why you hated it," he smiled, turning to Endeavour who gave him a small grin back.  
It had felt a little strange he had to admit, and he certainly hadn't gone about it in the same way Jakes did, but he felt proud knowing that he wasn't the only one who needed looking out for. He couldn't help but laugh a little too.

The walk up the stairs to the apartment was far too long, and Endeavour wished that Jakes would hurry up locking the door. But the moment he had done, he turned and pulled him into a kiss.  
Endeavour was walking backwards, but he wasn't sure which of them was leading the movement as they pushed through Jakes' bedroom door and fell down on the bed.

Endeavour's hands worked their way down the other man's shirt, unfastening the buttons and pressing his hands on the toned chest underneath, causing Jakes to moan softly into their kiss, firmly above Endeavour now, with one knee resting between his legs and the other just to the other side of his left leg, ensuring that at least part of him was well and truly straddled.

Both of Jakes' hands were resting on the bed either side of the blonde's head to support his body.

Letting his hands trace down the other man's body, Endeavour grasped at his belt, pulling it lose, discarding it off the side of the bed and he began working with Jakes' trousers and underwear, already able to feel his hardness against his brushing fingers.

"Endeavour" Jakes moaned, breaking the kiss to grind down against Endeavour's own hardening member.

Letting out his own sharp gasp at the contact, Endeavour closed his hand around Jakes' length. Both of them flinched, hesitating in their movement, blushing pink with embarrassment, but he didn't let go, only waited until his heart had stopped pounding before experimentally running his thumb along it.  
Jakes shivered, arms trembling either side of Endeavour's head, threatening to give way.

Taking a moment to readjust their position, they edged their way into a sitting position, legs touching as Jakes reached out to Endeavour's own pelt, seizing his mouth in another passionate kiss while Endeavour continued to move his own hand, letting out a whimper when Jakes' hand successfully made its way through his own underwear.

"Peter" he hissed, unable to do anything else through his gritted teeth that were trying to hold back every moan that was threatening to escape him, arching his back and pressing against Jakes, moving his own hand faster, feeling every moan that Jakes made against his lips, returning them with his own.

With a sharp gasp and jerk Endeavour felt himself release only moments before Jakes.

He fell back onto the bed, gasping and panting, Jakes lay beside him doing very much the same, even so, on the way down their legs had somehow managed to intertwine, ensuring that they were very much locked together.

When he'd regained part of his composure, Endeavour turned onto one side, pressing his head against Jakes' chest, happy to feel the other man's arm curl around him to keep him close.

With a yawn, Endeavour kicked off his trousers from where they were still hanging around his ankles and edged his pants back up to cover himself, before dropping into a comfortable and optimistic sleep.


	11. Centre of a Picture

Waking up next to Peter Jakes was not something he was used to, neither was it something that he didn't want to get used to.  
During the night Jakes had rolled onto his back, Endeavour found that he must have moved with him, because his head was now resting on the other man's chest, and Jakes' hand was still lightly resting on his shoulder.

This was also the first time he'd ever been in Jakes' room, it had been so much of a passionate blur last night, that he hadn't really gotten the chance to take the room itself in.  
It was rather plain, but well clipped and neat, just like Jakes with everything in its proper and stylish place.  
There were no books, they were all stored in the bookshelf in the main room, but there were a few vinyls filed into a cupboard, on top of which stood a nice looking modern vinyl player.  
Endeavour doubted that the music was classical or opera, and yet he presumed that whatever genre it was, Jakes probably had very good taste.

He lifted his head and sat up in the bed, stretching widely and yawning.

A groan from Jakes told him that his sleeping companion was also beginning to wake up.

"I'm going to go make coffee and toast" Endeavour told him, placing a light kiss on his forehead, "no offence but you can't make either to save your life,"

"everyone's a critic" Jakes muttered, still half asleep as he opened his dark eyes, that seemed even deeper in the early hours of the morning.  
Endeavour stayed just a little longer to lap up that image, in all honestly Jakes asleep and Jakes having just woken up were quickly becoming his favourite moments in the day.

He managed to make toast this time without burning it and the coffee was easy enough.

Jakes wondered through just as he was setting it all out, still looking half asleep on his feet, although his eyes were starting to look like their usual sharp daytime selves.

They didn't mention last night, but neither of them seemed awkward about it either. Endeavour wasn't sure about Jakes, but every time he remembered it gave him a warm feeling that spread through his chest, lighting up every part of him, making it impossible not to smile.  
He didn't miss the way that Jakes' eyes kept flicking to him and looking away and blushing whenever he noticed, that must be his way of remembering.

Finishing breakfast largely in peace, the phone didn't ring until Jakes was putting the plates and cups down by the sink.  
Moving without hesitation, Endeavour, being closer to the phone, lifted it off its cradle.

"Jakes?"

Endeavour recognised Thursday's voice.

"No it's Morse" he replied, taking note of the irritation in Thursday's tone and the huff he let out, something had obviously happened.

"Another murder" Thursday told him, "it's in the same village where we found the first one, in the pub garden, can you and Jakes get here quickly?"  
Endeavour nodded, "yes of course."

He placed the phone down, turning to look at Jakes. The dark haired man who was just raising his first cigarette of the day to his lips, nodded, he understood, policemen always understood that look.

When they arrived, uniform was still looking for the right arm. This body had been completely hacked to pieces, but this time the face and teeth were still intact.  
As the pieces were found they were being laid out on the grass for DeBryn to examine.

Endeavour took an instinctive step back, leaving Jakes to go on without him to where the body was lying on the grass in five pieces – The left arm, the right leg, the left leg, torso and head.  
"Saw" DeBryn frowned, examining the limbs closely, "and rather erratic cutting too, our killers getting quite a feel for this."

Endeavour watched Jakes approach Thursday's side to look down at the body, then he took a couple of steps back.  
"Shit!" Endeavour heard him curse, Thursday looked rather taken aback, but Jakes was already marching back in Endeavour's direction, "its that long haired bloke from last night, what was his name... Michael!"

Thursday caught them up, "you mean you interviewed this man yesterday?"

Jakes nodded, "He seemed to know the previous victims and Jones quite well, and told us that Edward Kens used to cheat on his boyfriend quite regularly, if our killer is Mr Travis then this could have been the trigger."

Thursday nodded, "go and have a chat with him and if he claims no alibi this time I want to see him in the station."

Jakes left, leaving Endeavour to drive Thursday back to the station.

"Why would he suddenly change his pattern like that?" Endeavour wondered aloud as he turned down one of the roads heading into Oxford, "I mean, the previous victims would have been unidentifiable if it wasn't for certain noticeable features. He tore their teeth out and skinned their faces, apart from the fact that Michael here had been cut-up he was relatively okay..."

"Do you have any ideas?" Thursday asked, settling down comfortably, he'd missed these car journeys with Morse.

Endeavour frowned, his forehead tensing, showing all the thoughts that were racing through his head.  
"Michael wasn't the same M.O. As the others, our last two victims were slim, relatively tall and quite attractive, whereas Michael was smallish, with long hair and not quite as appealing as the others... perhaps the motive was different?"

"You mean perhaps this Michael found something out and so the killer had to kill him?" Thursday began taking note, kicking his own brain into action,  
"Or he already knew too much and might have told us something" Endeavour suggested with a shrug.

They were still quite a drive from Oxford and the Police Station, so there was definitely some time to think and brainstorm a little more.  
"Think back Morse, did Michael say anything to you or Jakes that could have been a clue?"

Endeavour thought back, "he mentioned that Kens had been sleeping around a lot and he'd been one of them,"  
"Well maybe Kens told him something when they were having their affair that might incriminate Travis" Thursday suggested,  
"I'm not sure it was much of a relationship, he made it sound like they were just together for one night. Other than that he didn't really tell us anything that we didn't already know," he sighed.

They'd just arrived on the outskirts of Oxford when the police radio buzzed, Thursday answered, giving his name and location.

"The body of a young man found in a public convenience..." The desk officer read them out the address, "...Face mutilated and teeth pulled out."

Thursday groaned, hanging up the radio, giving Endeavour a strong willed look, "we're going to catch this bastard Morse and have him sent down for as much as a judge can dish out."

This body was propped up in a cubical, one leg was by the sink and one arm was in the cubical next to him. It was another pathologist rather than Max, but his ruling was similar to the one Max had written off on the first two bodies, died of blood-loss, limbs hacked off post-mortem.

But unlike the others, this man did not take too long to identify.

An older man pulled up on his bike, he immediately tried to continue on when he spotted all the policemen, but some of the uniform managed to stop him.  
He explained in a rather trembling voice to Endeavour and Thursday that he'd had an 'appointment' with Mr Derek Cooper and that he'd been told to meet him here. The description the man gave matched closely enough with the body, in fact it sounded vaguely familiar.

They now had four bodies on their hands, three with the same M.O. Whatever reason Michael had been killed, this poor bloke, it was the same motivation as the others.

When they returned it was to find Mr Travis standing in the centre of the main office shouting very loudly at Jakes, who was responding by perching on the side of his desk, smoking and blowing smoke in the other man's face.

"Why is he in here?" Thursday demanded, storming into the office ahead of Endeavour,

"Interview room in use" Jakes shrugged, "so I brought him here to keep an eye on him and see if he felt like chatting."

Now there was an older Detective in the room, Travis seemed to calm down somewhat, "look, I know you think I did it, but I only knew Eddy, how am I supposed to have killed a man I don't even know?"

Thursday and Endeavour exchanged a look, if Travis was their guilty man then he was playing dumb about their recent two, but this could be a sign of his innocence that they'd have to keep an eye on.

When he didn't get any reply, Travis threw his arms in the air, glancing round the office. He gave a small start, opened his mouth then shook his head.  
"What?" Jakes mumbled through his cigarette, holding up his zipper to light a fresh one, that Endeavour plucked from his lips before he could light it, just as Thursday turned his head to follow Travis' gaze.

"No, it's nothing," Travis gave a nervous laugh, "just, that second bloke up there, he reminds me of someone."  
"Who?" Endeavour moved forwards to get a good look at Travis' face as he spoke, "It's not him exactly, slightly different face shape, but close enough for someone to mix them up..." Realising that Endeavour, Jakes and Thursday were all looking at him, he shook his head quickly, "there's a photo that Eddy held onto, him and a childhood friend, he told me that the other boy died in an accident, but they do look very alike..."

Jakes shook his head, "just a coincidence" he muttered, "we're here to get a clearer idea of what you were doing last night, so don't change the subject."

Thursday and Jakes went straight into questioning, but Endeavour was studying the board again, gazing at the picture of Bradley they had up on the board, he'd seen a similar face to that before as well, he just wasn't quite sure where, but he knew it was right at the back of his mind, something recent...

He closed his eyes. It was all mixed up with lights, talking and... Jakes, Jakes seemed to centre in this picture for some reason.  
"Hey," he tugged on Jakes' sleeve, pointing at the picture, "does something about him look familiar to you?"

Jakes looked a little annoyed and was probably about to pull his sleeve back, when his own eyes widened and he suddenly nodded, "that guy at the club, the one who..." he coloured a little.  
Endeavour gave a sudden start, remembering that body in the public convenience, "I think I've spotted a pattern..."


	12. Love You Too

"I still don't see it" Super Intendant Bright grumbled, "besides this pattern, and only if you are correct about this fourth body, only two of them actually fit the pattern."

Endeavour nervously rubbed the back of his neck, he knew it was a bit of a long shot, but it was all he'd spotted, and all that might help lead them to the killer.  
"The first body was mutilated beyond any recognition" Endeavour agreed, "and it's true that Mr Kens and Mr..." Endeavour suddenly realised that he didn't know Michael's last name,  
"Woodstock" Thursday filled in for him, motioning for Endeavour to continue.

"Well neither of them fit the pattern, but Mr Woodstock's body was treated differently to the others, his face had not been cut off, only his limbs. Whereas Mr Bradley and if I am correct Mr Cooper both looked strikingly similar."  
He pushed the photo of Mr Bradley forward, wishing he had one of Mr Cooper, but Jakes hadn't gotten back with that one yet.

It hadn't been hard for them to track down who Mr Cooper was and where he lived, so Jakes had volunteered to go round and see if he could find a photo at his flat, or any information that might help them.

"All these men are homosexuals though are they not?" The Super Intendant pointed out, "how do we know this isn't just a hate case?" He sat back, looking rather smug, because he knew that Endeavour wouldn't be able to find a hole in this.

Endeavour frowned, he could see Thursday out of the corner of his eye making his way forwards to bring the meeting to an end until they could present the Super with more information, but Endeavour pressed on, as usual.

"Then why change the pattern for Mr Woodstock? He was a homosexual too, and we know from the lab reports that he was killed before Mr Cooper, so it can't be a change in pattern. Mr Woodstock had no part in the grand scheme of this killer, the looks of the other two victims are the only thing that ties them together, and they are linked strikingly with a childhood friend of our first victim that died in an accident!" He shoved forwards the photo that Travis had brought.

Surely that at least was obvious!?

The young man in the photo can't have been older than eighteen, but the size showed him to be of a similar height to Mr Kens, he had sharp handsome features and striking eyes on his thin face, the photo was in black and white, so he couldn't make out the hair or eye colour, but he'd take a guess that his hair was either a light brown or darkish blond, it wasn't dark enough to be black.

Bradley had been blonde, but Cooper, at least if he'd gotten Cooper's identity right, had dark hair. Their face-shapes and eye colour though were very similar.

In the photo Kens and the other young man, who still remained nameless, as Travis couldn't remember his name, were standing side-by-side on a waterfront that looked like it might be from Scarborough or one of the other North-eastern beaches. The young man was smiling brightly at the camera, while Kens grinned as well, his hand resting on the other man's shoulder.

Had they been lovers? Or maybe they had just been friends?

Travis appeared to know nothing about the young man, only that he'd seen the photograph, and Endeavour was pretty sure that he believed him.

The Super looked like he was starting to boil, gritting his teeth in the way that usually suggested someone was going to be scolded and put on temporary suspension.  
Thankfully Jakes arrived just in the nick of time, placing down the photo in his hands next to the one they had of Bradley and the photo of the beach.

"Traffic" he apologised, "but you were right Endeavour, it was him."

Bright flinched, his anger simmering down as he blinked, looking as if he was unsure what to be more surprised at, that Jakes had called Morse 'Endeavour' or that Morse had been proved right, yet again.

Jakes and Endeavour however didn't seem to pick up that one of them had said anything out of the ordinary, so Endeavour just pressed on.  
"Surely you can see it now sir?"

He didn't get to hear The Super's reply because Thursday was already herding him and Jakes out of the room, "don't worry Morse I'll talk him through it, why don't you go and see if you can dig up anything about this accident the boy supposedly had, it may give us a name."

Of course that was easier said than done.

All they had to go on was a picture and potentially Kens' name. They had no date of death, and no idea what this accident even consisted of, although they did know he'd been alive in 1963 because that's when the photo had been taken, at least that only meant they had three years to search.

"I wonder what that was about?" Jakes glanced over his shoulder back into The Super's office where he and Thursday were still chatting, but in lowered tones so that nobody outside could hear them.

Endeavour shrugged, picking up the phone. "I'll start making calls around, can you go and see if Travis remembers anything more, he must do."  
Jakes smiled, his hand drifting for a few seconds along Endeavour's arm before he turned to grab his coat, "if you ask me, I got the lucky deal, good luck," then he was gone, leaving Endeavour to shift through contacts that might have the information he needed.

This would be so much easier if there was some way of simply searching on a system for something, using just people's names and things you knew, like: 'Edward Kens' and 'Accident'.  
He dismissed the thought quickly and sadly, something like that was way off their technology, like something out of one of those tacky sci-fi films that had started emerging recently.

Thursday left the Super's office about ten minuets later, rubbing his brow and looking very tired as he came over to see how Endeavour was doing.  
"I've started with the most obvious places" Endeavour explained, "We have a few cases in our archives that I'm going over, and Scarborough is going to get back to me." Yawning, he rubbed his aching eyes with his fists, hoping that this wasn't going to take all night.

"Late night?" Thursday sat down on the edge of Endeavour's desk giving him his best fatherly-look, one that Endeavour had gotten used to over time, however the question did throw him somewhat.

"A bit late" he replied, carefully examining his words before he released them.

"Hmmm" the older man hummed back in response, patting Endeavour's shoulder lightly, "well I was going to suggest that Jakes helped you when he got back, but two tired eyes is likely to miss us something important, get on home and I'll send Jakes back when he gets here, I'm sure there's a uniformed constable around to do this."

So grateful that he could get back and lie down, Endeavour didn't even notice until he was on the bus that Thursday had assumed Jakes would be tired if he was.  
He buried his aching head in his hands, there was no doubt that Thursday knew, although he supposed he should feel grateful that Thursday seemed to be taking it so well. He hadn't asked them about it, but nobody asked questions like that, but he seemed to have shown in his own way that he didn't mind.

Still, Endeavour doubted that kissing in the office was something that Thursday would be able to withstand. He was a man of his own generation, and nobody could blame him for that.

By the time Jakes had gotten back it was to find Endeavour fast asleep at the table, head resting on his arms beside a cup of cold tea.  
Smiling, he took the cup and emptied it into the sink, giving it a rinse before leaving it by the counter to clean properly tomorrow.

Returning to Endeavour's side, he brushed his finger gently over the other man's cheek, "come on, you can't sleep here."  
The blonde hummed in response, opening his eyes and raising his head slowly, wincing at the obvious pain in his neck.  
"My point exactly" Jakes told him, helping to guide Endeavour towards the bedroom, ignoring the door to the spare room as they passed it.  
Thursday had them under strict orders to be wide awake tomorrow, besides it wasn't like Endeavour was in any condition to do anything, but that didn't mean they couldn't sleep in the same bed.

Endeavour still looked half asleep, and almost clambered into bed still fully dressed. Jakes didn't doubt that Endeavour had probably fallen asleep in his clothes on quite a regular basis when he was in that rented room.  
Pulling his partner back from the bed, he began to undo the buttons on his jacket, then on his shirt.

He felt Endeavour's own hands working at his clothes and then felt the other's warm mouth press against his neck, moving slowly and with obvious exhaustion, but it didn't make it any less arousing.

"Not tonight" Jakes told him firmly, manoeuvring Endeavour away from his neck and placing a light kiss on his forehead as Endeavour gave him an adorable confused and sleepy look.

The moment Endeavour was free of his shirt and trousers, Jakes let him fall down onto the bed, where Endeavour immediately settled himself and fell asleep again.  
Jakes undressed himself and crawled into the opposite side of the bed, brushing the other man's shoulder delicately with his thumb, careful not to wake him, before closing his own eyes for some well-earned rest.

The dream that came that night was not particularly restful or reassuring.

Jakes could see himself standing in the incident room, looking at the board that now consisted of pictures of the four victims and the photo of the boy in the accident.  
On the other side of the board were pictures of their suspects, including Rupert Jones who had a cross through his name.

He settled on Alex Morgan, a man he hated beyond belief, that arrogant smirk looking right back at him, but he moved on, focusing instead on Travis' young handsome face. Travis' photo had a much more honest smile that Morgan's, perhaps not as charming as Endeavour's, but Jakes doubted there was anyone that could out do his blonde sleeping companion on that front.

But he could not rest on the suspect board, something just didn't seem right.

Michael, Cooper, Kens and Bradley. Four victims, two of which looked like an old friend of Edward Kens.  
Cooper, Kens and Bradley had all been chopped up and disfigured in their attacks, so they must have more of a connection, which would certainly support the photo idea.

He blinked as he eyes rested on Cooper and Bradley, just as the room flashed with a sudden bright light, and suddenly Endeavour's face had joined them, it was just for a second, but time seemed to be moving so slowly.

Then it was gone.

Jakes' eyes kept going back to the photo, there was something, something hidden in that photo, something they'd missed, something they hadn't found.

"Help!"

Jakes' blood ran cold. He'd never heard Endeavour call for 'help' before, but he was pretty sure that would be what it sounded like.  
Then he was standing in a field like the one they'd found the first body in. There was blood everywhere, and at the centre a mangled corpse that looked so familiar that Jakes couldn't bare to take a step closer, but he knew he had to.

Just as he was about to look down at the body, he was pulled from his sleep.

Endeavour was grasping his shoulder with one hand, looking down at him with worry in his eyes.

"You were having a nightmare" he explained, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles over his skin, "you were mumbling something and tossing, I thought I should wake you..." The blonde bit his lip, looking worried, in case he'd woken him for nothing.

Reassuringly, Jakes lifted his hand, wrapping it around Endeavour's head, to pull him into a chaste kiss, he didn't have the energy for anything more at the moment.  
"No, I was, thank you for waking me."

It was still dark outside, it couldn't be anywhere near morning yet, they still had plenty of hours to rest up.  
"Come on" Jakes yawned, holding Endeavour close to him, breathing in his soothing scent, just to reassure himself that he was still here with him, and not dismembered in a field somewhere. "Love you..." Jakes heard himself mumble, missing the way that Endeavour tensed in his arms for a moment, and he was already asleep when a small voice whispered back in the dark,  
"Love you too..."


	13. It's a Date Then

Thursday had taken the call last night back from Scarborough, and had been told that they were sending him a copy of the newspaper from the week when Johnny Harris had stumbled by the pier a fallen to his death. His friend Edward Kens had been the only witness and had been completely traumatised by the event.

According to Thursday, the police had found him crouching by the pier after having made the emergency call from the nearest phone box.  
The two had been eighteen at the time, they'd come from York for a Summer time holiday to celebrate leaving school before going to University, Kens to Oxford, and Harris had been going to Manchester, both their parents had been very proud at the time.

It seemed that for now, Bright was going to accept Endeavour's theory, but on the strict warning that if he was wrong then he'd be back in uniform before the case was over.

But at least they had more of a solid connection now. Thursday had even gone down to the morgue to ask, very awkwardly, if there was any sign of sexual abuse on the victims.  
DeBryn wasn't particularly fazed at all and sent them up another copy of his report with 'no signs of sexual abuse' underlined with red pen.

"So this isn't a homosexual case then, just a coincidence?"

Super Intendant Bright decided to join them just as Jakes was pinning the report on the board.

"Sir just because there aren't any signs of rape doesn't mean that homosexuality couldn't still be a primary focus of the case" Endeavour replied, ignoring the way Jakes and Thursday inwardly groaned as Endeavour clashed horns once again with the Super Intendant.

Endeavour didn't even look like he knew he was doing it half the time.

After about an hour of arguing and debating later, Jakes was forced to move Alex Morgan from 'primary suspects' to just 'suspects', something he was clearly not very happy about.  
But as Thursday reasoned, Alex Morgan did not have any motivation for the killings, the only thing that tied him to them was that his brother had been a suspect and that his car had been stolen and used during the first murder. While the circumstantial evidence kept him in the frame, they had far more to go on from Travis.

His boyfriend had been the first body, one of his boyfriend's lovers had been the next, and the other four had all attended the same club.

"Perhaps Cooper had also had an affair with Kens" Jakes suggested, "maybe Kens was sleeping with all these other guys because they reminded him of this guy in the photo. Woodstock could have just have been a one night stand or something like that, which is why he didn't get the same treatment."

Endeavour nodded, looking excited, "Woodstock also didn't look like this Johnny Harris that Kens was most likely obsessed with, so there wouldn't be any need to cut off his face."

"But what about that thing about the killer being left handed" Thursday interrupted before Jakes and Endeavour could get too carried away, "the notes that were written you said were written with a left hand and the first murder told us the killer was left handed,"

"Endeavour also said that the killer could be ambidextrous" Jakes added, although it was clear now that there were faults in the Travis verdict too.

They were rather stumped, with one of their main suspects dead and the other two dismissed, they weren't quite sure where they were standing now.  
It was like the more that they found out about the victims and the murders, the less it seemed to suit anybody that they'd spoken to.

"We're going around in circles here" Jakes sighed, falling back onto one of the chairs and lighting up his sixth cigarette, taking a deep puff and blowing it out into the thoughtful silence of the room.

"I suppose that club is probably our best bet, all the victims went there," Thursday got to his feet and stretched, still gazing at the board thoughtfully, "we should also go and see Travis again, just to be sure that this Johnny Harris doesn't spring any memories."

"Endeavour can you handle the club on your own?"

Thursday was met by a very incredulous look from Jakes, although in all fairness it had been Jakes who had experienced a much harder time at that club the last time they were there, Endeavour had been fine, apparently lacking the distinctive features that your average guy at that club was looking for.

Jakes was already protesting, Endeavour wondered whether he was even trying to be subtle any more, because he was sure that if any of his pub friends walked in right now they'd be able to tell straight off that their relationship wasn't exactly a platonic one.

"Morse can you please explain to Jakes that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself" Thursday groaned, bringing a hand to his head like he was attempting to block Jakes out.  
"I have tried" Endeavour told him apologetically, although he decided to try again, tapping Jakes' shoulder to pull him away from Thursday. "I'll be fine, and you know I haven't been wrong yet about that," he gave Jakes a rather intense look, noting when he broke the gaze that Thursday had coughed and turned away discretely.

Jakes nodded stiffly, "I suppose I'm the one interviewing the potential murderer" he shrugged, "okay, see you later."

"See you later" Endeavour smiled, pulling on his coat to go on ahead before Jakes could have any second thoughts.

The Club was still quiet when Endeavour arrived, which wasn't much of a surprise considering that it had only just gone midday. There were a few of the older men he'd spoken to the other night, drinking by the bar, while the cleaners and maintenance workers cleared up the signs of the night before.

Endeavour made his way over to join them, smiling as he approached when one noticed him.

"Your boyfriend not with you today?" Asked one not unkindly, but with a keen interest.

Smiling, Endeavour shook his head, finding some sort of thrill at being able to acknowledge that was what Jakes was to him without any disproving or uncomfortable looks, not that he had dared to try it out.

"We're looking into a new lead" Endeavour told them, pulling out the photo of Harris that he had brought with him, he was an old friend, perhaps a boyfriend of Edward Kens who died about three years ago. I don't suppose you ever heard him mention anyone like that?"

The older man shrugged, "no, sorry, but I can tell you that sort of lad was certainly his type, always looked quite shy, but were very forward when it came to it."

It had been a bit of a long shot anyway, the older gentlemen were less likely to know about the busy and highly sexual lives of the younger club goers, they hadn't been able to tell him anything that they didn't already know.

"When does the main crowd start to arrive?" He asked instead, taking a seat on one of the barstools.

The older man he'd been talking to turned to another, they discussed quietly for a moment before he turned back to Endeavour, "sometimes they start trailing in at six, sometimes at seven" he replied, "we're not all that sure though, it's like one minuet it's empty, the next minuet it's full."

"Well thanks for your help," Endeavour got back up, he might as well head back to the station and see if he could dig up anything more on Johnny Harris. Thursday and Jakes would probably get back in about an hour as well, perhaps they'd had more luck.

He'd gotten up to go, only to put his foot right in one of the janitor's buckets. He pulled his foot back quickly, only to knock the whole bucket over his his haste, soaking both the floor and his trouser leg.

"I'm so sorry" he apologised quickly, ignoring the explosion of laughter behind him from the older men.

He wasn't sure whether he should just go, or stay to help the janitor clean up the mess that he'd made. The youngish looking man had his head down and looked like he'd been working really hard all morning.  
"It's okay I've got it" the janitor told him with a small laugh, "it's my job to clean up the messes made in this place by other people."

Endeavour hesitated, then apologised again before turning to leave, he'd have to make a stop back at the flat to change his socks and trousers first, perhaps his shoes as well if any of the water started leaking through them.  
Shoes didn't come cheap either and this was his only pair, although he was sure Jakes wouldn't mind if he borrowed some of his for the day until he had a chance to get out and buy some new ones.

The flat was empty, just as he expected, although the mugs from their morning tea were still lying in the sink waiting to be cleaned. It was strange and not something he'd admit to, but the sight made him happy, the idea that he was actually a part of this flat now.  
He hadn't had a relationship where he actually felt like he belonged somewhere since his college days in Oxford, and that had been quite a few years ago now.

He wondered where Jakes had been when he was at Oxford, he doubted the other man was a university sort of guy, considering he was already a sergeant he'd probably joined the force at eighteen, with relatively impressive school results.

Shaking his head, he moved through the flat into the bedroom he hadn't slept in last night, and shifted off his shoes, socks and trousers, picking out some fresh ones from his cupboard.  
His shoes had been ruined, so he had to go through to Jakes' room to get a pair of his, they pinched a little, Jakes must have smaller feet than him, but they weren't uncomfortable enough to cause him too much trouble for the rest of the day as long as he remembered to sit down when he could.

Satisfied with his appearance, he left the flat again, locking the door with his key behind him, nodding politely to Jakes' neighbour who gave him a rather dirty look as he passed.

Back at the station Jakes was smoking at his desk and Thursday was in his office, so it didn't look like there had been much luck there.  
The office was empty apart from the two of them, unless you counted Thursday behind the door that led to his personal side-office.

The moment he entered the office, Jakes stubbed out his cigarette and gave him the closest thing Jakes could ever really manage to a smile, which was a smirk with less accusation and amusement in his eyes.

"No luck?" Endeavour asked, setting himself down on Jakes' desk, positioning himself so that their legs could bump together without it looking too obvious to anybody who might look in.

"Nope, in fact he told me and Thursday that he didn't see why we kept questioning him, when it was clear that all our evidence was circumstantial," Jakes pulled a face, "stupid smart aleck."

Endeavour laughed, deciding not to point out the contradiction in Jakes' words. His smile widened a little when Jakes' hand moved so that it was resting against his thigh.  
"Is that a promise for later?" Endeavour questioned, allowing his blue eyes to meet with the other man's colder coloured ones, that always seemed alive with a kind of icy fire in situations like this.  
"Perhaps" Jakes smirked, his eyes dropping to watch his thumb as it traced circles over the materiel of the trousers questioningly, "you've been home to change?"

"Yeah I tripped on a bucket at the club and got water everywhere, I borrowed a pair of your shoes for the day, hope you don't mind."  
He stretched out his leg so that Jakes could see which ones he'd pulled out, he hoped that they weren't one of the his best.

"They suit you" was all Jakes said, he leaned forward suddenly, pressing their mouths together in a very quick chaste kiss, pulling away quickly, but not without a proud looking grin. "We'll go find you some more when we get some time, I insist on finding you something with far more credibility than your last ones."  
Endeavour opened his mouth to defend his shoes, then closed it again when he caught the humorous upturn of one of Jakes' eyebrows.

"I'm heading back to the club later to question some more people, do you want to come?" Endeavour waited for Jakes' reply, watching him carefully as he did.  
But he didn't have to wait long, because Jakes was already smiling, "it's a date then."


End file.
